Punjab CM announces relay dharna after the President declines meeting

Captain Amarinder reiterated his appeal to MLAs of other political parties in Punjab to join the dharnas to safeguard the State, which has been facing a dire situation at present. GVK has announced that it will close down operations at 3 pm today since coal stocks had completely run out. The public and other private power plants in the state stopped operations earlier.

New Delhi: After the President of India Ramnath Kovind declined to meet, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced that he will lead a relay dharna of state's legislators at Delhi’s Rajghat from November 4 to highlight the state’s power crisis and critical insufficiency of essential supplies amid the Centre’s adamant refusal to allow movement of goods trains.

As the crisis triggered by the suspension of goods trains aggravated further in the state, resulting in a complete shutdown of all power plants as well as curtailment of agricultural and vegetable supplies, the Chief Minister said that he has decided to hold a symbolic relay dharna at Rajghat to bring the state’s grim situation to the Centre’s notice. Since Section 144 was in place in Delhi, MLAs will go from Punjab Bhawan to the final resting place of the Father of the Nation in batches of four, he said, adding that he will lead the first batch at 10.30 am.

Captain Amarinder reiterated his appeal to MLAs of other political parties in Punjab to join the dharnas to safeguard the State, which has been facing a dire situation at present. GVK has announced that it will close down operations at 3 pm today since coal stocks had completely run out. The public and other private power plants in the state stopped operations earlier.

Read:Punjab CM writes to Nadda over suspension of goods trains

The Chief Minister said that the situation on the ground was grim as the state had run out of coal, urea/Diammonium phosphate, DAP and other essential supplies as freight trains stopped plying in the wake of farmers' protests on the railway tracks against the recently enacted farm acts. With its bid for power purchase not cleared for today, the state was facing extreme power shortage, all agricultural and vegetable supplies had been curtailed, and high loss feeders power supply had been cut, he said, adding that the people of Punjab were staring at a dark festival season.

Further, the continued and inexplicable suspension of the goods trains by the Railways also had serious consequences for other states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, he pointed out, reiterating his warning of the armed forces becoming sitting ducks for the enemies if they do not get their essential supplies before snow sets in.

Soon after the Vidhan Sabha session, in which all parties had unanimously resolved to seek time from the President for November 4 (or any other suitable date) to seek his intervention on the Farm Bills issue, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) had, on October 21, sent a letter to Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking a meeting.

A reminder was subsequently sent on October 29, in response to which the CMO received a DO letter yesterday rejecting the request for a meeting on grounds of the State Amendment Bills still pending with the Governor for consideration. Subsequently, the CMO sent another letter yesterday itself, stating that the Chief Minister and other MLAs needed time to bring to the President’s notice the situation on the ground and to seek his intervention for resolution of the issues that have cropped up. However, the President’s Office responded saying “the request cannot be accepted at this juncture for reasons cited earlier.”

Expressing concern over the development, the Chief Minister said as far as the State Amendment Bills, introduced under Article 254 (ii) were concerned, the Governor’s role was limited to forward the same to the President in accordance with the Constitutional provisions. In any case, as the letter from his office had made it clear, that was not the only issue on which the state needed the President’s intervention, he added.

The Chief Minister also took serious note of the refusal of two central ministers to meet Congress MPs from Punjab to discuss grave issues of importance to the state. The Ministers had sought time from Railways and Finance Ministers to discuss the suspension of goods trains and non-payment of GST dues.

The central government’s stepmotherly treatment towards Punjab was pushing into a deep crisis, said Captain Amarinder, terming the recent developments as against India’s Constitutionally mandated federal character. The situation, if not checked, could snowball into a major catastrophe and spell doom for the nation, whose foundations were built on the ethos of democratic federalism, he warned.