Effigy of deputy CM Sukhbir burnt in Patiala
Wednesday, 03/06/2015
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PATIALA: A number of protesters led by members of the ‘Action Committee against the molestation and death of a girl in Orbit bus’ burnt the effigy of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal outside the office of Punjab cabinet minister Surjit Singh Rakhra on Tuesday morning.
Members of Joint Action Committee protesting against Orbit buses opposite the office of cabinet minister Surjit Singh Rakhra in Patiala on Tuesday.
The protesters also raised slogans against the deputy chief minister.
Representatives of various farmers’ organisations, students unions and labour unions took part in the protest.
Some members of the Punjab Students Union and Bharat Kisan Union (Dakuanda) slammed the Badal family and slammed them as a businessoriented family, who is ruling the state just as a means for expansion of business.
“How can a transport business started with five buses acquire 400 buses in a short span of time and come to dominate the state? The state government under the Badals is hell-bent on privatisation of important public sector utilities, including the public transport,” a protester alleged.
The protester have been demanding the cancellation of permits for Orbit buses, an FIR against the owner of the company and an inquiry into the assets of the Badal-family made after 2006.
“Due to political patronage, private transporters have been misbehaving with residents of the state, especially women, and getting away with it. Sometimes, the conductors and other staff also rude to police officials,” said Harjit Singh Sukhewal, a leader from the Punjab Students Union.
He added that due to the ‘wrong and misdirected’ policies of the state government, the educated youth had been forced to fight on roads for their rights or face severe exploitation in the name of ‘so-called contractual government jobs’.
