Cops rain lathis on protesting jobless teachers in Bathinda
Police on Saturday cane-charged protesting jobless elementary teachers at Jai Singh Wala village here, resulting in injuries to many.
Police on Saturday cane-charged protesting jobless elementary teachers at Jai Singh Wala village here, resulting in injuries to many.
Four teachers were admitted to the Bathinda civil hospital. Demanding jobs, Teachers Eligibility Test (TET)-pass teachers are protesting atop a water tank for the past more than three weeks. On June 11 too, cops had rained lathis on the protesters who had blocked the Bathinda-Mansa road.
After the lathi-charge, a protesting woman teacher tried to immolate herself, but was rescued by her colleagues. She has received burn injuries on her arm.
The protest took an ugly turn when teachers started marching towards Badal village to join dharna of Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh, who was in Lambi.
Cops cordoned off the village and did not allow teachers to leave the place following which protesters blocked the Bathinda-Badal road near Nandgarh village. Police used force to disperse the protesters to clear way for Amarinder’s cavalcade.
Nandgarh police station in-charge Yadwinder Singh said they first tried to convince the teachers to lift their protest, but the latter did not budge.
“The action was taken to clear route for the VVIP’s visit. The cavalcade of union minister for food processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal too had to pass through the road,’’ SHO said.
Condemning police action, Kamal Thakur of jobless teachers’ union said they were peacefully marching towards Lambi when a police party overpowered them.
He, however, said local authorities have fixed their meeting with deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and education minister Daljeet Singh Cheema in Chandigarh on June 21.