Punjab govt’s evacuation drive for political mileage: Congress

Gurdaspur, Congress leaders of Gurdaspur district on Sunday alleged that the Punjab government was using the evacuation drive as a lever to gain political mileage ahead of the Assembly elections.
Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chaudhary and Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who visited some border villages, said while Pakistani farmers were tending to their crops, unnecessary evacuation was being undertaken on the Indian side.
“I visited Chakri, where the BSF has a picket. I was amazed to see Pakistani farmers busy in tilling their fields while we were asked by the Gurdaspur police to cut short our meetings and return to our homes,” Chowdhury said.
Rajya Sabha MP Partap Bajwa, who belongs to Gurdaspur, said a lot of villagers had complained to him that they were being uprooted by the police.
“Five states are going to the polls shortly and the BJP-led government in the centre wants to derive maximum political mileage from these strikes,” Bajwa said.
Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, MLA from Fatehgarh Churian, said that the Punjab government had made a mockery of itself by ordering evacuation.
“When there is no movement of army personnel or vehicles, what made the state government order a large scale evacuation? Villagers should be compensated as they are being asked to leave when their paddy crop is ready for harvesting,” he said.
Ashwani Sekhri, Batala legislator, said he had visited the relief camps but found only a handful of people present. “When I questioned them they told me that they were brought in forcibly keeping in view the impending visit of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal,” he said.
Ashok Chowdhury, president of the Gurdaspur district congress committee, said, “Till today morning I have received half a dozen delegations of villagers asking me to urge the CM to immediately stop the ill-conceived evacuation process.”