Civic body staff protest attack on officer

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 22

Employees of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation held a protest at the Zone D office against the attack on Road and Building Branch Senior Executive Karamjit Singh by some persons during a drive to evict illegal occupants of flats at Giaspura recently.

The protesters demanded immediate arrest of the persons involved in the attack. They also demanded from the administration assurance for their safety in the course of duty. “Senior Executive Karamjit Singh was just discharging his duty and following orders of his seniors when he was attacked by some miscreants. The Police Department should arrest the culprits soon and take exemplary action against them,” said Ashwani Sahota, Chairman of the Municipal Employees Sangharsh Committee.

The incident took place when a youth climbed an electricity transformer from the window of a flat in protest and suffered a shock. The youth, identified as Sonu (19), suffered burns and fainted on the spot. Angry residents thrashed Karamjit and SDO Kulwinder Singh. They also damaged Kulwinder's car.

The police had registered a case against unidentified persons on a complaint of Senior Executive Karamjit Singh, but no arrest has been made so far.

Later on, a delegation of the employees met Mayor Balkar Sandhu and Municipal Commissioner Jaskiran Singh and submitted them a memorandum. The other demands of the employees include treatment of employees injured in the course of duty, cases to be registered by the Municipal Corporation instead of victim employees and setting up an MC protection force for such drives.

Both the Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner assured them that their just demands would be fulfilled.