DGP inspects security arrangements in Amritsar
AMRITSAR: As various Sikh organisations are gearing up to commemorate the 34th anniversary of Operation Bluestar on June 6, director general of police (DGP), Punjab, Suresh Arora, on Saturday, visited the holy city and inspected security arrangements. He also held a special meeting with senior police officials of the district police and instructed them to remain extra vigilant.
While talking to media, the DGP said, “The anniversary is celebrated in the Golden Temple every year and to avoid any kind of untoward incident, adequate forces, including paramilitary, is deployed. This time also, security inside and outside the premises of the Golden Temple has been beefed up.”
Arora assured they have arranged adequate force and law and order will be maintained at any cost in the city.
In 2014, a clash had taken place between the radicals and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) task force on the occasion, in which several people were injured. The security is beefed up for the anniversary every year since then.
The DGP also conducted a meeting with inspector general (IG) border range Surinderpal Singh Parmar in which senior superintendents of police (SSPS) of Amritsar rural, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Batala and Pathankot had taken part. During the meeting, the DPG asked the SSPS to ensure law and order in their respective areas.
NO PREVENTIVE DETENTION
The DGP said commissioner of police (CP), Amritsar, SS Srivastava, told him that adequate security measures have been taken in the city, including the Golden Temple, but no preventive detention has been made so far. However, in 2016, the Punjab Police conducted raids across the state and detained several radical leaders ahead of the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar, as a preventive measure to maintain law and order.
He said, “Quick reaction teams and patrolling parties of the Amritsar police are already working to maintain law and order.”
‘JATHEDAR’ MAND TO DELIVER ‘SANDESH’
Shiromani Akali Dal-amritsar (Sad-amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann held a meeting with Sikh hardliners and announced that at 11 am on June 5 , an ‘independence march’ will be held from Gurdwara Santokhsar to the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs. He said the march will be dedicated to ‘martyrs’ of the Operation Bluestar in 1984. He also said the march will be attended by Sikh sangat from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Delhi.