Rejecting his predecessor Parkash Singh Badal’s charge that Punjab was slipping into anarchy, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said the law and order in the State had improved as compared to the situation in the previous 10 years.
Challenging the 90-year-old five-time former chief minister to prove his allegations, Capt Amarinder claimed there was a marked decline in major incidents of crime since his Government took over in March this year.
“In stark contrast to the jungle raj prevailing during the SAD-BJP regime led by Badal, a general state of peace prevails today in Punjab with incidents of sacrilege and drug trading, as well as heinous crimes like murder and kidnapping coming down drastically in the past eight months,” claimed the 75-year-old Chief Minister.
A day before, Badal had expressed concern over the law and order situation saying that Punjab was fast slipping towards a complete and dangerous anarchy. His comments had come in the backdrop of the assassination of a Hindu outfit leader Vipan Sharma in Amritsar and other incidents including alleged attacks on Akali workers. Capt Amarinder claimed people were earlier living under a blanket of fear with gangsters ruling the roost “under the patronage of the ruling coalition”.
With the Congress Government cracking down on them, gangsters and criminal elements were fleeing the State out of fear of arrest and penal action, he added.
On opposition charge about targeted killings being carried out, Capt Amarinder said such attacks commenced almost two years ago, when the Akalis were in power. “In fact, it was during the rule of the Badals when the State witnessed two fidayeen (terror) attacks,” he added.
Citing data, the Chief Minister said between March 15, 2017, and September 30, 2017, a total of 21,721 cases under Indian Penal Code (IPC) were registered as against 21,926 cases registered in the corresponding period of 2016, when Akalis ruled the State.
There has been a decrease in all major categories of heinous crime cases, such as murders, kidnapping, abductions, robberies and dacoities, during the said period of 2017 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, said Capt Amarinder.
“While murder cases in the period under review had come down from 454 to 384, cases of kidnapping or abduction had declined from 936 to 915. The figures for dacoity stood at 29 and 17 respectively, and those for robbery were 76 in the said period of 2016 and 65 for the corresponding period of 2017,” he said.
As for action on the drugs front, there had been a whopping increase in the number of cases registered under NDPS Act and Excise Act, as well as the seizures of drugs, said Capt Amarinder. He said Badal had not bothered to check on facts and was trying to fool the people with “unfounded allegations” against the Government.
Contrary to what Badal was trying to project, the civil and police administration in the state was working closely together on a day-to-day basis to ensure peace and communal harmony, added Capt Amarinder.