Slum dwellers pelt Dharamsot’s entourage with stones in Nabha

NABHA: High drama ensued at Baazigar Basti after some dwellers pelted stones on the entourage of Punjab cabinet minister and Nabha legislator Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on Saturday for alleged partiality during ration distribution.

The minister, who was accompanied by Nabha municipal council chief Rajnish Mittal and many other Congress leaders, gave away food packets to the poor as part of Covid-19 relief.

A video of the incident also did rounds on the social media. It showed the basti residents protesting against the minister and pelting stones, following which Mittal ran for cover to his car.

In the clip, the residents alleged that the minister and his associates did not distribute anything among the Dheha Biradri because a local Congress leader told them they had not voted for Congress in the recent elections. They claimed that some residents were given only packets of salt.

When asked, DSP Nabha Varidnerjit Singh Thind said, “We have not registered any case as there is no complaint so far. The minister said he didn’t want to take action in the matter. The residents pelted stones on the cavalcade, but no one was hurt and no cars were damaged.”

Despite repeated attempts, Dharamsot could not be reached for comment as his phone remained was switched after the incident.

However, Mittal refuted the discrimination allegations and said, “We we started distributing the food packets, people started forming a crowd and to avoid violation of curfew, we assigned the doorstep delivery task to local councillors and left. This may have caused confusion among the residents making them think that they wouldn’t get any food.”