M A I N   N E W S

DISTURBING TRENDS-IV
Sharp rise in attacks on public servants
Common man ‘dissatisfied with governance’
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 30
After doctors and policemen, powermen and employees of the Revenue, Transport and Taxation Departments have been facing public ire as the number of cases of assault on public servants have quadrupled in the first eight months of this year as compared to the corresponding period last year.

“The trend is a reflection of the mind of the common man who feels dissatisfied with the present system of governance,” says a psychologist working in a government department maintaining that this trend is not peculiar to Punjab or Haryana but is “widespread”.

Though a majority of the cases of assault on public servants are not reported, a number of incidents have already been reported this year so far. The number is four times the figure for last year.

Powermen or technocrats from the Punjab State Electricity Board have been facing a tough time. In the last case reported from Patran, a Subdivisional Officer was attacked in Sadihari village and was injured. In June, a lineman of the PSEB was attacked while on duty at Budhlada.

In yet another case reported from Guru Harsahai in April this year, a PSEB inspection party was not only attacked but the assailants also opened fire in the air to make it give up the inspection work midway.

Interestingly, a couple of cases of assault on public servants have been reported in which the culprits were under the influence of liquor. In one such instance, an ex-servicemen attacked an Excise Inspector after he tried to stop him from drinking at a prohibited place. This incident took place in Ferozepore district. In yet another case, an Executive Magistrate was at the receiving end as the suspect, under the influence of liquor, misbehaved with him.

There was one case in which the driver and the conductor of a Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) bus were allegedly attacked and their uniform was torn by the driver and the conductor of a private bus at Jamalpur in Ludhiana.

The biggest attack on public servants was in Bathinda where a mob of 150 to 200 persons attacked a PUDA party when it went to get its land vacated from encroachers. In a solitary case, a physical education teacher of a school was attacked with a blunt weapon on the school premises in Amritsar district.

In two separate cases, revenue officials, including a Naib Tehsildar, were assaulted. In one of these cases, a patwari was attacked with a blunt weapon and Rs 1,500 in cash was also snatched from him. The last case was reported from Ludhiana.

Earlier such incidents used to be few and far between. According to police records only three cases of assault on public servants, other than policemen and doctors, were reported in 2000.

“If one looks at the total number of incidents of attack on public servants, including doctors and policemen, the increase is almost 1,000 per cent or even more. These figures are only of reported cases. A large number of cases go unreported as in many the offenders realise their mistake a little later and apologise. In such cases, a compromise is reached and the complaint is not pursued any further,” remarked a senior civil servant maintaining that the general tolerance level was sharply declining leading to an increase in the incidence of assault on public servants.

The number of cases are more in the police, transport, healthcare, electricity, water supply and even anti-encroachment wings of various government agencies because they have direct and wide public dealing. “Because of the low satisfaction level, the anger or the outburst against officials manning public windows or at public dealing seats is much more. That is why this trend is increasing uncontrollably,” he added.

(To be concluded)