Planning to meet Sukhbir,60 workers detained; freed later

More than 50 people working on contract under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNAREGA),who were planning to meet Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal,were detained by the police in anticipation of law and order problem. The workers who were demanding that their jobs be regularised said they wanted to “peacefully” meet the deputy CM but were not allowed to do so and were kept in police custody for more than five hours. “Some of them were rounded up for security reasons but were freed immediately,” said a police officer. Leaders of the workers’ union said they just wanted to hand over a memorandum regarding their demands.