Punjab LoP Partap Singh Bajwa demands House-monitored panel to bare gangster-police nexus

Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa today sought tabling of the action taken report on the involvement of police officials in facilitating interview of gangster Lawrance Bishnoi with a TV channel when he was in the custody of CIA at Kharar.

The issue was raised during zero hour on the second day of the three-day session, a day after the issue of gangster-police nexus was raised when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan had sought a report from the DGP on a Kotkapura-posted ASI seeking money from a gangster.

Drawing attention of the House to the status report filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the SIT led by Prabodh Kumar, Special Director-General of Police, PSHRC, Bajwa said the House should know what action has the government taken against the SP-rank officer who had facilitated the interview. “It is total intelligence failure that a gangster involved in the killing of Sidhu Moosewala was being allowed to give interview to a TV channel. This shows that the police-gangster nexus is thriving in Punjab. The law and order situation in the state has gone for a toss as extortion calls are being made by gangsters,” Bajwa said while seeking setting up a Vidhan Sabha-monitored committee to probe such cases.

Coming in support of local transporters over allegation of “Goonda Tax” by transporters engaged with Guru Gobind Singh Refinery at Bathinda, Talwandi Sabo MLA Baljinder Kaur threw an open challenge to prove that the local transporters were collecting the illegal tax.

She said in the House that it was the other way round as the refinery officials and corporate-run transport mafia were exploiting people in the region. Since the establishment of the refinery, these officials and outside transporters have been paying very low wages to the local small transporters, thereby exploiting them here.

Congress MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia alleged that transport mafia was running the roost in the state. Alleging that private transporter like Lakhwinder Singh Lakhi, who once handled transport business of Badals, was ruling the roost in the Transport Department despite the AAP government claiming complete transparency.