The Punjab Police on Saturday used water cannons to disperse Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers forcing their way to “gherao” the residence of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh at Siswan, Mohali in protest against frequent power cuts.
Led by Punjab AAP chief Bhagwant Mann, thousands of party workers had gathered and started marching towards the farmhouse, raising slogans against the Congress government over the power shortage.
Facing severe electricity crisis, the Punjab Government had curtailed timings of government offices from Friday, besides cutting down on power supply to high energy consuming industries with immediate effect to save crops and ease the domestic power situation.
Police personnel were deployed in strength and multi-layered barricades were put up on the road leading to the Chief Minister’s farmhouse.
As scores of AAP workers carrying party flags forced their way through the first layer of barricades and reached the second, police used a water cannon to disperse them.
Police also detained Bhagwant Mann, Harpal Singh Cheema along with several workers and office-bearers of the AAP.
Earlier, addressing the protest rally, AAP’s State chief Bhagwant Mann said, “We have come to express the grief of 2.75 crore people of Punjab to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who is sleeping in palaces and visited Punjab only six times since he became the CM.”
He said that the people of Punjab are buying the most expensive electricity in the country at Rs 10 per unit but they are still not getting electricity. “Instead, they have to leave their homes in the scorching heat and hold dharnas on the roads,” said Mann.
He alleged that the people of Punjab are suffering the consequences of the collusion between the Akalis and the Congress, because during the Akali rule, the Badal family had entered into deadly deals with the private power companies and now the Congress government has implemented these deals.
AAP’s senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema said that due to the deadly power pacts, the state exchequer is being looted by the private power companies and the Congress and the Akalis have recovered a share from this looting.