BDPO SHIFTED FOR CLAIMING FARM PROTEST PROPOSED BY PUNJAB GOVT

CHANDIGARH: A block development and panchayat officer (BPDO) was shifted on Saturday for issuing a letter claiming that a farmers’ protest would be organised by the Punjab government over the issue of farm ordinances on September 21.

“Taking serious cognisance of the matter, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh ordered the shifting of the Sardulgarh BDPO to the headquarters, and immediate withdrawal of the letter issued by him regarding farm protests that he incorrectly claimed to have been organised by the Punjab government,” a government statement said here.

The directions came a day after Shiromani Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema had uploaded the BDPO letter on his Twitter handle, accusing the ruling Congress of “outsourcing its programmes” to the panchayati raj department.

The Punjab government has not organised any such protest, as claimed by the BDPO, according to the statement issued on Saturday. Far from organising any protests, the government has been appealing to political organisations to refrain from organising public gatherings in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, it said. The overzealous BDPO had, on his own, announced a protest dharna on September 21 and had issued a letter asking all panchayat secretaries under his block to intimate sarpanches about the same, the statement said. He had also wrongly claimed that ministers and MLAs would join these protests, it said. The CM has asked officials concerned to inquire into the incident and pin the responsibility, it said.