A day after BJP Minister Madan Mohan Mittal accused the State’s official machinery of discriminating against the BJP leaders when it comes to protocol, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday directed all the concerned officers to ensure presence of Sub-Divisional Officers and Deputy Superintendent of Police during the official visit of these dignitaries.Chief Minister’s directions came after he took serious cognisance of reports related to “unexceptional” behaviour of the officers for not giving due respect and courtesy to the Union Ministers and Cabinet Ministers of the State Government. Mittal, Minister of Industries and Commerce, Technical Education and Industrial Training and Parliamentary Affairs, was left red-faced when he went to attend a function at ITI Banur and no senior officer from the civil and police administration was present at the venue.
Irked, Mittal told the State’s officers to “show equal respect to Akali and BJP Ministers”. He also took to task the officials from Patiala and Mohali when none of them turned up to attend to him. “Badal has directed that in case the Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police are functionally required during these visits, they should ensure their presence on such occasions,” said a spokesperson of the CMO. The CM, categorically, said that no dereliction in duty on the part of the concerned officer would be tolerated in any case.He also directed the State Chief Secretary to issue detailed guidelines to all the DCs in this regard to ensure strict compliance of these instructions meticulously. Badal reiterated that it was obligatory on the part of all officers to ensure respect and extend basic courtesies to these dignitaries, who were held in high esteem in the public domain as the representatives of the people in democratic set up.