Ahead of bypoll, Gidderbaha becomes hotbed of protests

Ahead of the bypoll, Gidderbaha has become a hotbed of protests. Nearly 200 activists of three unions — 3704 Adhyapak Union, Gram Panchayat Pump Operators’ Union and Berozgar Sanjha Morcha - on Sunday blocked the Malout-Bathinda national highway at Gidderbaha for over six hours.

The 3704 Adhyapak Union demanded pay scales on a par with other regular employees. The Berozgar Sanjha Morcha demanded jobs and some relaxation in existing rules. Further, the Gram Panchayat Pump Operators’ Union demanded that their jobs be brought under the block development and panchayat officer.

Later, AAP candidate Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon’s younger brother Sunny Dhillon met protesters, assured them of their meeting with CM Bhagwant Mann and then only the protesters lifted the road blockade.

Last week, the Meritorious Teachers’ Union Punjab lodged a protest demanding regulation. The teachers claimed that they had met Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and lodged protests during the Jalandhar bypoll too, but to no avail. “Now, we have lodged a protest at Gidderbaha, which is politically important constituency. In the coming days, we will campaign against the state government here,” claimed Rakesh Kumar, an activist of the union.

Earlier, property dealers, colonisers and document writers had lodged a protest at Gidderbaha town and Doda village in this constituency. They were demanding decrease in the collector rates of property.

Further, some unemployed ETT-Pass Teachers lodged a protest here, demanding jobs. When the CM came here on August 28, activists of the Theka Mulazam Sangharsh Union demanding regularisation of their jobs blocked a road in Gidderbaha. Some Anganwadi workers too had lodged a protest on the same day, alleging that the state government was distributing substandard ration among the anganwadi centres.

Besides, some residents of Gidderbaha village recently lodged a protest for almost a month demanding the construction of a railway over bridge, water works, etc. The protest ended when Union MoS for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu last week promised them that their demand would be met by the Centre.

Congress workers led by their state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring lodged a protest at the SDM office complex on October 8 and 9 against the Deputy Commissioner and SDM Gidderbaha over alleged irregularities in the panchayat election process. Besides, they kept the Malout-Bathinda national highway blocked at Gidderbaha for nearly 30 hours.

SAD activists led by their party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal too lodged a protest at the SDM office complex here on October 10.

There are reports that the number of protests will swell after Diwali.