Intelligence warnings set aside,UT Police ‘under-estimated’ mob

A DAY after an unruly mob of farmers went on the rampage in the city,the top brass of the Chandigarh Police gave credit to its staff to have controlled the situation “without the use of arms”. But the ground reality had a different tale to tell.

A blatant display of mismanagement and indiscipline was witnessed at the Sector-16 cricket stadium roundabout during the BKU rally.

The result was also quite evident from the manner in which police personnel were seen running for cover.

While the middle-rank officials blamed the field staff,including constables and head constables for leaving ground and seeking cover,the lower staff said otherwise.

Interestingly,senior officers,who are almost on the verge of retirement,were deployed on the fore-front at the Sector-16 roundabout while the young lot was kept on the backfoot near Matka Chowk. As a result,older police officials were the ones to get severely hurt when the mob went out of hand and attacked them.

Even the barricades set up on Jan Marg were neither tied with ropes nor locked,which could have prevented the mob from breaching the checkpost.

Even the Punjab Intelligence reports,forwarded by the Chandigarh Police’s own intelligence wing,were not viewed seriously.

The lack of arrangements to deal with the 30,000-strong mob was palpable. The deployed staff was caught unawares when the protestors started pelting stones,as most of the police officers had left their shields,helmets and batons in the vehicles which transported them from the base to the rally venue.

Senior police officers,however,blame the entire chaos on the presence of “naxalite elements” in the rally. “The Ugraahn region,from where most of the protestors had come,is known to be full of naxalite elements. They were not ordinary farmers. Rather,they had come well-prepared with bags full of bricks and stones. Our men fought bravely and that too without the use of any arms and ammunitions,” said a senior police official.

‘Easy availability of liquor worsened situation’

Satinder Singh and Shakti Prakash Devshali,convenor and co-convenor respectively of the IT Cell of the BJP city unit,condemned the UT Administration for its failure in dealing with the farmer agitation. The leaders said the easy availability of liquor in the city added to the raging protest. It was demanded that the liquor policy of the Administration be reviewed.