Massive protest against 'graft' in Phillaur tehsil office

Ashok Kaura

Phagwara , February 25

Hundreds of workers and leaders from various organisations staged a massive protest against the alleged corruption and administrative high-handedness at the Phillaur tehsil office. The protesters gathered at Ambedkar Chowk before marching through the city’s markets and streets, raising slogans against the administration.

Holding banners and placards highlighting corruption and misconduct in the office, the demonstrators expressed their outrage. As part of the first phase of their struggle, they burnt the effigy of the tehsildar outside the tehsil office and raised slogans demanding his removal. The protest was led by leaders from the Lok Insaaf Manch and various public organisations, including Jarnail, advocate Sanjeev Bhora, Gurnam Singh Taggar and Purshotam.

Addressing a gathering, the leaders claimed that corruption and misuse of power in the tehsil office had reached the extreme levels. They alleged that those raising their voices against these malpractices were being falsely implicated in legal cases. They demanded that the government should immediately quash such false cases and take action against the tehsildar. Written complaints regarding these issues had been sent to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, DGP, and other officials.

They announced that they would soon make public the evidence of the alleged misconduct by the tehsildar and other officials. Furthermore, they planned to mobilise people at the village level through awareness campaigns.

The demonstration saw participation from numerous representatives of farmer unions, labour organisations and local panchayats. Among those present were Hans Raj, Hani Santokhpura, Dr Ashok Kumar, Dr Sandeep Santokhpura, Deepak Kumar, Shiv Kalsi Nagar, Nikka Sandhu, Nitin Kumar, Rimpi Kumar, advocate Narinder Begampur, Kuljit Singh from the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, Tarjinder Dhaliwal, Kuldeep Phillaur, and several other activists and village leaders.

The protesters vowed to intensify their movement if their demands were not met, warning of larger demonstrations in the near future. Despite repeated attempts no officer could be contacted to comment.