Mohali: The Punjab Police has registered an FIR against 23 members of the Aam Aadmi Party, including MP and state unit chief Bhagwant Mann. This came to the fore after he was detained on Saturday amid AAP’s protest against the state government over power shortage.
Mohali SSP said that an FIR has been registered against Bhagwant Mann and MLA Harpal Singh Cheema along with 200 unidentified people who were protesting near Punjab CM Amarinder Singh’s house in Mohali yesterday.
Police on Saturday used water cannons to disperse AAP workers, led by Bhagwant Mann, who were trying to “gherao” Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s residence in Siswan to protest the continuous power cuts in the state Were.
In view of the protest, the police deployment was strengthened by putting up multi-level barricades on the road leading to the Chief Minister’s farmhouse.
AAP workers carrying party flags made their way through the first layer of barricades. On reaching the second layer, the police started using water cannons to disperse them.
With the urban and rural areas facing prolonged load shedding amid the scorching heat, power shortage in Punjab is a worry.
To deal with the issue, the Punjab state government ordered reduction in the hours of state government offices and reduced power supply to industries with high energy consumption. Punjab CM appealed to all government offices to use power judiciously as the peak demand in the state has reached 14500 MW recently.
Meanwhile, AAP leaders are criticizing the Congress government for “failing” to provide 24 hours electricity to the people at affordable rates.
The opposition is attacking the CM Amarinder Singh-led government by accusing it of not providing enough electricity to the consumers, especially the paddy growers, to sow the crop.
The issue of power supply is gaining momentum ahead of the upcoming assembly elections as Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had promised 300 units of free electricity in the state if his party wins the election.
(with agency input)
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