As poll nears, CM city turns protest hub

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, September 13

Ahead of Assembly elections, the CM’s city has turned into a protest and dharna city, causing inconvenience to the residents and commuters.

The situation has become grim for the past one month as one or the other protest is going on daily. At present, 2-3 organisations are staging dharna in Sector 12. Interestingly, the authorities have not earmarked any particular place for the protest.

Most organisations have chosen roads of Sector 12, Mini-Secretariat and the vicinity of the CM’s camp office as their protest sites. Commuters have to face a tough time as all the roads in Sector 12 and near the CM’s camp office are busy.

As the model code of conduct can be imposed anytime soon, the intensity of the protests has increased here.

The protesters think that elections may force the government to consider their demands, said a political expert.

In the past month, pharmacists, guest teachers, employees of the various departments under the banner of Sarv Karamchari Sangh, gramin safai karamchari, ASHA workers, anganwadi workers, farmers or others have protested to press for their demands.

Most of them hijacked the major roads for their protest, leading to traffic chaos in the city.

On August 14, scores of farmers took out a half-naked protest and staged dharna at Mini-Secretariat while on August 18, hundreds of pharmacists held a state-level protest march, staged dharna near the CM’s camp office, causing inconvenience to the residents living there.

On August 26, members of anganwadi workers and helpers union held a state-level protest and staged dharna near CM’s camp office.

On September 1, employees of various government departments staged dharna near CM’s camp office and the police used water cannons to disperse them. On the same day, the guest teachers started indefinite hunger strike and dharna at Sector 12.

On September 5, guest teachers took out protest march in the city and a guest teacher climbed an overhead water tank.

On September 8, employees organised a state-level Aakrosh rally, while on the same day, guest teachers took out a half-naked protest march. On September 12, the guest teachers blocked the road near the Mini-Secretariat. The situation remained the same on September 13.

Yashveer, a resident of Model Town, said that the CM’s camp office should be shifted out of the city so that residents are not affected by such protests. Due to protests near the CM’s camp office, the neighbourhood turns into a police cantonment. The residents fear that any untoward incident can happen anytime.

Opposition leaders took a dig at the increasing number of protests. “With the tag of CM city, Karnal did not get any major development works. In fact, it has become a protest city. All the sections are unhappy with the government due to which they have no option but to protest,” said Trilochan Singh, former chairman, Haryana Minority Commission, and senior Congress leader.