2022 security breach in mind, Punjab lines up officials to ensure smooth passage for PM

However, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders announced Tuesday that they would peacefully oppose Modi’s visit to Punjab.

During the PM’s security breach in 2022, when Congress’ Charanjit Singh Channi was the chief minister of Punjab, a group of farmers agitating against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws gathered at the flyover to be taken by the PM’s convoy on their way to National Martyrs Memorial in Ferozepur from Bathinda airport on January 5, prompting the Special Protection Group (SPG) to halt the convoy. Modi returned without addressing a rally in Punjab, while the issue reached the Supreme Court and several Punjab officers were indicted for the “lapse.”

This time, however, the Punjab Home Department and the state police have already held a series of meetings with Deputy Commissioners of Patiala, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur, and besides ordering the deployment of a heavy posse of police and central security forces, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma ordered that all district administration officials should be assigned duties to ensure proper arrangements are in place, officials said.

“The government is not taking any chances. The issue had become a problem for the state government after the Centre wrote letters to the state to take action against officers. The SC also intervened. This time, we will ensure his entire route is clear of any possible interruption. All officials of the district administrations of three districts have been assigned duties to ensure the PM’s smooth passage. They have also been that it is not just the duty of the police but also the civil administration. Officials of all departments concerned attended meetings in Chandigarh and district administration officials of the three districts joined through video conferencing,” a senior Punjab government officer said.

After the security breach in 2022, the Supreme Court appointed a committee to look into the matter. The committee indicted then Punjab chief secretary Anirudh Tewari, police chief S Chattopadhyaya, SSPs Harmandeep Singh Hans and Charanjit Singh, Additional DGPs Nageswara Rao and Naresh Arora, IGs Rakesh Aggarwal and Inderbir Singh and the then deputy IG Surjeet Singh for the lapse.

The report indicted the Punjab Police for being “casual” and “negligent” and called the incident “a colossal failure in planning and coordination”.

Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote several letters to the then Punjab chief secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua to submit an action taken report, highlighting the delay by the state government in acting against the erring officers.