This Week Punjab: Sukhbir trims VIP security

Sukhbir trims VIP security

Policing is more important than protecting VIPs,Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told the Home Department while ordering the pruning of guards given to those under police protection. In at a meeting last week,Badal asked Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini to ensure that all unauthorised guards return to their police units and sought a compliance report this week. As per the departments estimates,the state has deployed more than 8,000 policemen for the security of about 1,600 VIPs,including politicians,civil servants and serving and retired police officers,a legacy of the long years of militancy. The home department has been quick to oblige. In the first round,armed guards have been withdrawn from defeated Congress and Akali Dal MLAs and former Director DGPs,ADGPs,DIGs and IGs. The cover of many more will be whittled down in the second round,Badal has said.

Memorial to Bluestar dead

Twenty-eight years after the Armys Operation Bluestar,work has begun on a memorial to those killed inside the Golden Temple complex in 1984. It is located close to the Akal Takht,the highest temporal seat of Sikhism. Its foundation stone was laid by Sikh high priests on Sunday as hundreds of Sikh devotees and representatives of various Sikh religious bodies converged at the Golden Temple to participate in kar sewa,a voluntary service for the memorial. Among them was Ishwar Singh,son of slain terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale,who called upon Sikhs to overwhelmingly participate in the voluntary service. A day after,BJP leader and former minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla wrote to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal demanding a similar memorial to hundreds of Hindus killed during militancy in the state.

Whatever Didi manages

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has found a unusual ally in his West Bengal counterpart,Mamata Banerjee. As the UPA coalition partner negotiates a fiscal bailout for her state,Badal is keenly watching her every move. If they agree to a bailout for West Bengal,they cannot leave out Punjab,which is among the three debt-stressed states identified by the 13th Finance Commission for debt relief, the CM has been saying repeatedly. With Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee too agreeing that all three states Kerala is the third are to be dealt with equally in debt relief,Badal is now banking on Mamatas negotiations for sealing a deal for Punjab.

Atta,dal and their effect

Credited with helping the Badal government rewrite Punjabs revolving-door poll history,the populist atta-dal scheme of the ruling combine has gone for a toss after its return to power. The supply of subsidised wheat and pulses to nearly 16 lakh poor families,who have been given blue cards,has been stalled for nearly two months following a strike in ration depots. The provocation was a 63 per cent cut in the states kerosene quota by the Union Petroleum Ministry. Those running ration depots alleged that the state paid no commission on the scheme,which was running solely on the good commission they made on kerosene. They refused to lift supplies till the state agreed to pay an adequate commission. The state government struck back last week,roping in its 3,500 primary cooperative societies to run the scheme.

Wheat windfall

Over 127 lakh tonnes and counting. As wheat keeps pouring into its mandis,Punjab is looking in despair towards the Centre for a bailout. Its open and covered storage space of 200 lakh tonnes is already brimming with rice and wheat of the previous year. The state governments arrangements for 115 lakh tonnes for this years wheat have not been enough,as Punjab has surpassed its previous procurement record of 112 lakh tonnes. Chief Minister Badal has requested Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to allow export,saying the state procures it for the national pool and the piled-up grains are not the states liability. He also reminded the Centre of dues running into crores from the FCI for handling foodgrains.