Two weeks after PM’s tweet, Centre issues advisory

CHANDIGARH: Almost two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi regretted through a tweet the inconvenience caused to residents of Chandigarh during his visit to the city on September 11, the Union Cabinet Secretariat has issued a general advisory on the visits of the Prime Minister and other dignitaries.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 28

Almost two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi regretted through a tweet the inconvenience caused to residents of Chandigarh during his visit to the city on September 11, the Union Cabinet Secretariat has issued a general advisory on the visits of the Prime Minister and other dignitaries.

The advisory, addressed to all states and union territories, including Chandigarh, states that during such visits, no inconvenience should be caused to the public. A proper balance should be maintained between security and the convenience of the public.

Sources in the Haryana Raj Bhawan said the Centre had not held any UT official responsible for the inconvenience caused to the public, indicating a clean chit to the UT Administration. In the advisory, there was no mention about the Chandigarh Administration or its officials and it was “general in nature, which was issued to all states and UTs”, the sources said.

After widespread criticism from the public over the decision of the UT Administration to shut schools in the city and keep the cremation ground in Sector 25 out of bounds for the common man during the Prime Minister’s visit to the city, Modi had tweeted, “The inconvenience caused to citizens in Chandigarh, especially the shutting of schools due to my visit, is regretted. It was totally avoidable”. The Prime Minister had said an inquiry would be ordered into the matter and responsibility fixed. Thereafter, the UT Administration had sent its reply to the Centre.

In the reply, it was stated that the Administration took the decision keeping two things in mind — the Prime Minister’s security and to avoid any inconvenience to schoolchildren and the public.

On the cremation ground in Sector 25 being out of bounds for the public due to the unprecedented security arrangements at Modi’s rally venue, which led to some people, including a Kargil war veteran, shifting the cremation of his son to Mohali, the Administration had submitted that no official orders were issued by it to close the cremation ground.