CS asks DC to submit report on SDM’S ‘crack the heads’ remark
Chief secretary Vijai Vardhan has asked the deputy commissioner to also take note of Karnal SDM’S side of the story before preparing the report. it is learnt
CHANDIGARH : The Haryana government on Tuesday sought a report from Karnal deputy commissioner regarding a video purportedly showing IAS officer Ayush Sinha instructing the cops to hit the protesting farmers on the head.
It is learnt that chief secretary Vijai Vardhan has asked the deputy commissioner to also take note of Sinha’s side of the story before preparing the report.
Sinha, a 2018 batch IAS officer was heard in a video instructing the cops to thrash farmers if they tried to breach the barricades near the spot where a BJP event was going on. The IAS officer who is posted as sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Karnal, later said that the video was edited, and selective portions of his instructions were shown to create a controversy.
Chief minister ML Khattar had on Monday admitted that the choice of Sinha’s words was not right. “He (Sinha) should not have used such language though it is the job of officials to enforce law and order. I’m not saying he should not have enforced the rule of law strictly,” he said. The chief minister also clarified that Sinha was deputed about 10-12 kilometres away from the spot where the lathi charge took place.
Cong MLAS demand judicial probe
Congress MLAS led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday met Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and demanded a judicial probe into the Saturday lathi-charge on farmers in Karnal. Hooda alleged the lathi-charge was planned by the government. “The planning is evident from the video of an officer who is instructing cops to hit the farmers on their heads,’’ Hooda said.
Commenting on the completion of 2,500 days of the BJP government, the leader of the opposition said that no new railway or metro line, university, power plant, national-level institute or a big industry was set up in the state during the BJP rule. “Both the terms of the Bjp-led government have been full of failures. Then what are the celebrations for? Is the government celebrating the fact that it has made Haryana number one in unemployment, crime, drugs, scams, farmer protests and pollution? Is the government celebrating the fact that it got the farmers thrashed? ” the former chief minister said.
Guv asked to return land acquisition amendment bill to assembly
The Congress MLAS also submitted a memorandum to the Haryana governor asking him to return a Bill recently passed by the assembly to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, to the legislative assembly for reconsideration.
The Haryana amendment bill proposes to exempt certain development projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors, health and education and urban metro rail projects from the ambit of social impact assessment study and provision to safeguard food security.
“This bill is anti-farmer, antipoor and undemocratic. The bill was passed hurriedly without detailed discussion in the House,” Hooda said.
Addressing a press conference, Hooda said the amendment bill was against the spirit of the Principal Act, 2013 passed by the Parliament and will hurt the interest of farmers who are already agitating against three farm laws.
Congress approaches human rights panel
A Haryana Congress delegation led by in-charge of party affairs Vivek Bansal and state Congress president Kumari Selja on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in New Delhi, seeking suspension of officer who ordered lathicharge on farmers in Karnal last week.
A statement issued by the state Congress said the government should apologise for the act and fulfil the demands of the farmers.
Also compensation should be announced for the injured and the dead, the statement said. “Farmers were protesting peacefully and showing black flags was no crime. This government always responds to the black flags with sticks. An officer was giving orders, which have no place in a democracy. This is a violation of the rights of citizens. The government wants to suppress the voice of the farmers, who have been agitating peacefully on the streets for the last nine months,” Selja said.
Meanwhile, the student wing of the Congress party, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) on Tuesday took out a protest march in Karnal against the recent lathi-charge on farmers. Led by the NSUI state president Divyanshu Budhiraja, the activists marched towards the residence of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar at Ram Nagar in Karnal. However, police stopped them midway.