Legal action initiated against Spiti protesters

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, June 12

The local administration of Kaza is taking legal action against the people of Spiti valley who had blocked the cavalcade of Agriculture Minister Ram Lal Markanda on June 9 and asked him to follow the locally imposed lockdown strictly or move back from Kaza.

To check the spread of Covid outbreak in the region, the residents of Spiti valley had imposed a strict lockdown and framed local norms for its implementation.

The decision of the tribal people was appreciated at the state and national level at that time, but when they forced their own MLA to adhere to the norm, their decision came under the scanner.

The Kaza administration has decided to register cases against the protesters who blocked the minister’s entry into Kaza.

Official sources told The Tribune that the police had started identifying those involved in the protests. Many of them were reported to be government employees.

Kaza ADM Gyan Sagar Negi said blocking the highway was an offence, which the protesters had committed. Apart from this, they violated the norm of social distancing.

The joining of government employees in the protest was also against the code of conduct, the ADM maintained.

The police were trying to identify the protesters and they would be booked under relevant sections of the IPC, Negi added.

Meanwhile, some BJP leaders of Spiti have reportedly asked the protesters to beg pardon from the minister or face the consequences.