Chandigarh (Punjab): The Punjab government has constituted a high-level committee to probe Wednesday's security lapses during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the border state.
The committee would comprise Justice (Retd.) Mehtab Singh Gill, Principal Secretary (Home Affairs) and Justice Anurag Verma.
"The committee would submit its report within three days," an official spokesperson of the Punjab government said.
On Wednesday, PM Modi's cavalcade was stuck on a flyover in Punjab for nearly 20 minutes after protestors had blocked the flyover. The incident was seen as a major security breach with the BJP alleging that the state government failed to deploy additional security to clear the road.
Modi was scheduled to visit the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. However, due to rains and poor visibility, it was decided that he would travel by road, a nearly two hours journey. He later had to address a rally in Ferozepur.
Denying the allegations of a security breach, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi said it was a "demonstration" and equating it with a security lapse was "wrong".
"It is a democracy, people have a right to protest. They protest. BJP leaders are trying to spoil relations by addressing press meets, but there should be no politics on this", Channi said.
"People demonstrating peacefully are being labelled a threat to the life of the PM. Nothing that happened today (Wednesday) could have been termed a security lapse", he added.
"We told the PM that the weather is not good, if the tour can be postponed, then postpone it. But he continued his round," the Punjab CM said.
Channi said that the role of the police had been reduced and security was being taken care of by central agencies such as Intelligence Bureau (IB), as well as the Special Protection Group (SPG).
