Jalandhar, June 8
Even 72 hours after its constitution by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the five-member high-powered fact-finding committee has virtually failed to begin its probe. In fact, the committee members are yet to visit the family of Vijay Kumar Kala, a 27-year-old Dalit who died in the police firing on Thursday night, or the areas where violence had sparked off in the post-firing period.
The committee, comprising five senior ministers — Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Avtaar Henry, Chaudhary Santokh Singh and Lal Singh — was constituted on Friday to examine all aspects of the unfortunate developments, including the ones relating to pinpointing as to who was responsible for the firing. The Chief Minister had simultaneously ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter and had given a time-frame of 15 days for its completion.
Though the committee had announced a relief of Rs 5 lakh for the deceased’s family and an aid of Rs 25,000 and Rs 10,000 for each of those injured seriously and those with minor injuries, respectively, during its visit to the local Civil Hospital on Friday, it had failed to initiate any probe into the matter so far. So much so, none of its members had so far visited the family of Vijay Kumar Kala.
“None of the ministers have come to us so far. Nobody has asked us as to how we are facing the tragedy”, said Channo, mother of Vijay Kumar.
The ministers also reportedly did not visit Talhan or the Buta Mandi area where people were agitated over alleged police firing and the Chuggitti area where three youngsters had received minor injuries when a police party, which was summoned from Kapurthala, resorted to firing in the air to disperse the mob. “None of the committee members have visited any affected area so far and they have not even initiated the probe,” said Mr Vijay Sampla, the state Vice-President of the BJP. He also criticised the district administration and the police. “The clash at Talhan could have been averted had senior officials reached the spot in time. The Deputy Commissioner and the SSP reached there around 7 pm on Thursday though the clash between the Jats and the Dalits started around 1 pm.
When contacted Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Punjab minister and member of the committee, said the committee was constituted for disbursal of relief. “We could not go to the affected areas as curfew was imposed there,” said Mr Kaypee. Ironically, the Damdami Taksal chief, Bhai Mohkam Singh, managed to enter Talhan village in the morning in spite of the curfew.
