Maximum alert in Haryana, Punjab

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 23

Over one lakh followers have reached Panchkula as Haryana and Punjab maintain maximum alert ahead of the court judgment in a rape case against the Dera head.

As a precautionary measure, the government has ordered closure of schools and colleges in Panchkula district on August 24 and 25, Deputy Commissioner Gauri Parashar Joshi said on Wednesday.

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Haryana Government also declared a holiday for August 24 and 25 in government offices and banks situated in Sectors 4, 5 and 6 in Panchkula district.

Many followers are still arriving at the sect’s Sector-23 based ‘Naam Charcha Ghar’ (congregation/prayer centre) in Panchkula to show their solidarity with the sect chief, who has been asked to appear in person in the special CBI court on Friday.

Read: All Chandigarh-bound Haryana Roadways buses to terminate at Ambala

What’s on the mind of Dera Premis flocking to Panchkula

Punjab dera management asks police not to level ‘baseless’ allegations

Dera followers under intelligence and police radar

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Joshi said the administration and police were keeping an eye to ensure that law and order was maintained.

There is heavy police and paramilitary forces’ deployment near the routes leading to the district court complex in Panchkula, where the lawyers have suspended work for three days from Wednesday to avoid inconvenience to the public visiting the courts.

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When asked if the dera chief would appear before the court in Panchkula on Friday, a spokesman of Dera Sacha Sauda on Wednesday said the sect and its head had always followed law and would do so in future also.

“We have always followed due process of law, never have we gone out of law’s purview and never ever will we do so,” he said.

When asked if Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh would appeal to his followers to help maintain law and order and peace, he said, “During his satsangs (at sect headquarters in Sirsa) in mornings and evenings, Guruji always talks about humanity and things which will benefit humanity. He talks about tree plantation, organ donations, blood donation and helping out weaker sections.”

Security forces in Haryana and Punjab have been taking out flag marches at many sensitive places. The Haryana government has already clamped prohibitory orders in all its districts as a precautionary measure.

Police have set up barricades at several places in the two states, besides their common capital Chandigarh, where security has been further tightened ahead of the court verdict.

Amid reports that the dera followers could stock petrol, lathis and other weapons at Naam Charcha Ghars, Punjab Police have asked all its SSPs and other top-ranking police officials to be alert against any such action by the followers if the court verdict goes against the Dera chief.

Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said that carrying of any kind of stick or weapon had been prohibited at Naam Charcha Ghars of dera followers in the state.

Authorities in Haryana are making every effort to ensure foolproof security arrangements, with a senior official firmly saying that they would not allow a repeat of things as witnessed in November 2015 when there was a two-week tense standoff between the self-styled ‘godman’ Rampal’s followers and the police in Hisar during which five women and a child had died.

Rampal was later arrested and close to 15,000 of his followers were evacuated from his sprawling premises in Hisar.

While Haryana DGP BS Sandhu has already toured sensitive districts in the state, including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar and other places during the past few days, his Punjab counterpart Suresh Arora on Tuesday took a whirlwind tour of Bathinda, Mansa, Moga, Patiala, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Mohali districts, and checked preparedness.

Heavy police has been deployed in Bathinda, which shares its border with Sirsa, where the dera has its headquarters.

Union Territory Chandigarh’s Home department has declared the cricket stadium in Sector 16, which was associated with early training days of legendary Kapil Dev and has hosted several domestic and international matches, as ‘temporary jail’ on August 25.

Officials have said the ‘temporary jail’ can be used to confine people suspected of creating law and order problem on Friday.

Senior cops and administrative officers of Haryana, Punjab and UT Chandigarh have been holding confabulations to take stock of the security arrangements.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has also held parleys with top police and administrative brass.

The Haryana government has also requested the Centre to provide 115 companies of paramilitary forces, out of which many have already reached the state.

Duty magistrates have been deployed at all locations in Haryana.

While Punjab had already received 75 companies of central forces, Haryana got 35 companies to maintain security.

Police along with paramilitary forces, the CRPF and Rapid Action Force (RAF), SSB held flag marches at vulnerable places, including Moga, Bathinda, Sangrur, Barnala, Patiala, Ludhiana, Panchkula, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Ambala and Hisar.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh warned against any attempts to disrupt the state’s law and order in view of the upcoming judgment by the Panchkula court.

“All steps were being taken to ensure that law and order is not disturbed in any way in the wake of the court orders,” the Chief Minister said on Tuesday.

The sexual exploitation case was registered against the Dera chief in 2002 by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after anonymous letters were circulated about the alleged sexual exploitation of two Sadhvis (female followers) by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

However, the dera chief has denied these charges. With PTI

Highlights:

*Dera followers keep pouring into Panchkula

*Security tightened in Panchkula with police frisking the followers at all entry points to the town

*Security personnel holding flag marches at various places

*As a precautionary measure, Chandigarh Police bar the use of escalators at the local railway station

*At Muktsar, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora holds a meeting with the civil administration and police officials of Muktsar and Fazilka districts to review security arrangements

*The DGP says, “We have enough force. There are magistrates, police magistrates and paramilitary forces. All are working in tandem and the situation is under control.”

*10 senior IPS officers to be deployed in Panchkula

*Haryana gets eight more companies of security forces

*Social media being monitored

*Internet services may be suspended depending on the situation

* At Jhajjar, Department of School Education authorises DEOs to postpone the monthly assessment test commencing from Thursday if law and order situation demands so

*Jhajjar police directs all petrol pump owners in the district not to sell loose petrol and diesel; SHOs asked to ensure the deposit of all weapons by dera followers; hotels and inns told not to let dera followers and other suspected people stay on their premises

*Leave of Haryana DCs, SDMs, police officers and personnel cancelled

*Temporary jails to be notified all over Haryana

*At Bhiwani, the administration led by the DC and SP holds a meeting with sarpanches and other prominent people of villages and towns at a resort, asking them to cooperate with the authorities in maintaining law and order

*Some private schools in Chandigarh declare holiday on August 24 and 25

*Haryana govt directs all civil surgeons to cancel leave of health staff till August 30

*Kurukshetra DC holds a meeting with dera followers and govt officials in Pehowa sub-division to ensure peace

*In Kurukshetra, Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma appeals to dera followers to maintain peace and respect the verdict of the CBI court; he says the government will arrange food and water for the dera followers at various places on compassionate grounds

*In Ludhiana, the DGP is arriving in the city for a meeting with Commissioner of Police

*Sources in Haryana CID reveal that more than one lakh dera followers have reached Panchkula

*At Sangrur, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora welcomes the invitation of Dera followers, who have invited Punjab Police to check their congregation centres

*Jind DC Amit Khatri says dera followers from the district are marching towards Panchkula

*Intelligence sources say followers from various districts were also gathering in a large number in Sirsa, the headquarters of the Dera

*As many as 97 CRPF companies, including Rapid Action Force, to be deployed in Panchkula during hearing on Friday

*Haryana declares holiday in educational institutes, including colleges and universities, till August 25                       

*Dera followers who were stopped at Ambala started gathering at the bus stand; refuse to go back to their respective places

*CM ML Khattar writes to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, requesting to send more paramilitary forces to Haryana

*Haryana officially put on high alert

*At Ambala, ADGP RC Mishra is holding a meeting with dera followers in the city

*Administration conducts a flag march in Yamunanagar and Jagadhri

*Jawans of CRPF have been deployed along the national highway in Karnal to keep a vigil

*Panipat district authority directs all government and private schools, colleges and educational institutes to be closed on August 25 in view of the Dera case.

*Jhajjar district authority postpones de-worming drive for children in view of Dera chief case, the drive was to be conducted in government schools tomorrow.

*UT Administration orders closure of all educational institutions — government, private, aided, unaided, technical — in Chandigarh on August 24 and 25.

*DC Aditya Dahiya issued order that all schools will remain closed on August 25 in Karnal and no school bus would ply in the district.