After a day-long ordeal for the common man and commuters in several areas of Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday lifted its dharna and road blockades across Punjab with the party chief Sukhbir Badal claiming that most of their demands have been accepted.
SAD leaders, across the State, had been staging a protest dharna to protest against the attack on Akali leaders by Congress workers at Mallanwala in Ferozepur on Thursday in the run up to civic body polls in the state, and booking the SAD leaders and workers while not initiating any action against the Congressmen.
The agitation had caused much inconvenience to the people and commuters, as the SAD-BJP leaders had blocked various highways and roads, including the National Highway No 1 at ladowal Chowk in ludhiana district, National Highway at Beas near Amritsar.
Sukhbir has been leading the indefinite dharna at Harike Pattan since Thursday which was followed by the state-wide dharnas at several places.
Calling-off the State-wide protest, Sukhbir claimed that the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and station house officer (SHO) have been transferred for manhandling the SAD workers. He also said the Government has decided to hand over the Mallanwala firing incident investigation to the Crime Branch.
Sukhbir further said those who attacked the Akali leaders have also been booked by the police while an attempt to murder case has been withdrawn against the Akali leaders.
At the same time, Sukhbir also apologised to the people for putting them to inconvenience. “The party has to take recourse to this extreme step when it failed to get justice. SAD is known to fight for people's causes. We were in the forefront in the fight against emergency.
Even now, we sat down on dharna to safeguard the fundamental rights of the people as well as ensure the rule of law was respected,” he said.
Sukhbir added, “We are proud we achieved this objective but regret the inconvenience caused to the people even though special efforts were made to ensure the old, infirm and school children were not inconvenienced.”
“I have decided to call off the dharnas after all the objectives for which these have been held had been addressed. The government had decided to withdraw section 307 (attempt to murder) against all 12 leaders and 90 workers in the incident at Manawala in which they had been attacked by Congress workers,” he said.
He said that simultaneously, a case had been registered against Congress workers and five had also been arrested. SHO and DSP, Zira, had also been transferred and the entire issue would now be inquired by ADGP, Crime, he added.
Sukhbir also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the party workers who rose like one to protect the cause of democracy. “Party workers in thousands fought the cold elements to show solidarity with the people of Punjab whose rights are being trampled by Congress activists in the local bodies elections,” he said.
“I say to party workers - you have fought a clean battle in a democratic manner and won a victory for the people and shown the government that dictatorship will never be tolerated in a democratic set up,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the SAD activists blocked traffic at various place across Punjab. Senior Akali leaders, including former minister and Sahnewal MlA Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, former MlAs Manpreet Singh Ayali, Ranjit Singh Dhillon, Hira Singh Gabria along with BJP leaders others sat on dharna at ladowal Chowk in ludhiana.
They raised slogans against the Congress government seeking cancellation of cases registered against the party leaders and action against the Congress activists who had allegedly attacked SAD leaders.
Hundreds of SAD workers also staged dharna in different parts of Bathinda district. Former Akali minister Sikandar Singh Maluka led the protest in Rampura Phul where the protesters blocked the Bathinda-Barnala road, while former SAD MlA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu led the protest outside Talwandi Sabo police station protesting against registration of “false case” against the local unit chief of the Youth Akali Dal.
Akali workers led by former MlA Darshan Kotfatta blocked traffic at Jassi Chowk on Bathinda-Mansa road in the morning.
SAD workers also blocked the Chandigarh-Mansa road in Sunam town with the party activists sitting in the middle of the ROB — affecting not only the traffic on the busy Chandigarh-Mansa road but also caused problems to the locals as the traffic was diverted through Sunam town.
SAD leaders also blocked roads in Dhuri, Bhawanigarh, lehragaga and other areas of the district.