DSP cadre merger: After Capt, Sukhbir opposes move

CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, on Monday lashed out at the reported move of the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) to merge the DSP cadre of the Chandigarh Police with the police officers of all Union Territories, including the Delhi Police.

Terming the decision as ‘mischievous and provocative’ the former deputy chief minister (CM) urged Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh to ‘ensure that no one was allowed to tamper with the status of Chandigarh as the designated capital of Punjab’.

Sukhbir called upon the CM to treat the issue of Punjab’s right as a matter of top priority in this regard. He asked him to ensure that directives of the then Union home minister P Chidambaram on the division of employees between Punjab and Haryana on 60:40 basis till Chandigarh’s actual transfer to Punjab be fully and honestly implemented by the UT administration.

He, however, questioned the wordings of the Punjab government’s statement on the preservation of the 60:40 division between Punjab and Haryana.

“The UT administration is not following this ratio in appointment of deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), teachers or other employees. It is about the correction in the present status which needs to be emphasised. During his tenure as the Punjab CM, Parkash Singh Badal had aggressively pursued the matter with the Centre and forced the home minister to issue a fresh directive on the Punjab’s plea,” he said.

Sukhbir said Akali Dal will firmly and actively oppose any move to dilute the ‘strictly temporary arrangement of the cadre distribution between Punjab and Haryana on 60:40 basis’ pending the final and actual transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab.