Punjab Diary: Ropar MLA Dinesh Chadha’s novel gesture

Chandigarh: Last week, the annual gathering of village gram sabhas started in Punjab. Gram sabha is the general assembly of villages and is considered the first step of democracy, ensuring participation at the grassroots. The annual gram sabha of Barwa village in Ropar district’s Nurpur Bedi block surprised everyone when they saw a special member — Ropar MLA Dinesh Chadha, who hails from the same village — among them. What caught everyone’s attention was the fact that he participated like a common man, sitting on the mat alongside other villagers.

Tomorrow never dies

Chandigarh: A top police officer in the Punjab Police is nick-named “Mr Tomorrow”, particularly in the media circles. The reason is whenever he takes calls for official versions, his standard reply is: “I’ll call tomorrow.” And tomorrow, usually, never comes. If, at all, he responds to the call the next day, he chooses to answer only a part of the query. To the next one, he says: “Let’s do it tomorrow.”

Spurt in extortion calls

Amritsar: After withdrawal of security to VIPs, there has been a surge in cases of alleged extortion calls from gangsters. An audio clip is doing the rounds, particularly in Amritsar circles, these days in which a “gangster” is heard threatening a former MLA for extortion. The caller says: “First you used us to break legs of your rivals, now you don’t take our calls.” At the same time, senior police officials say the drama of extortion calls is being played out only to get back security.

Fighting shy of lucrative posts

Gurdaspur: What the arrest of former minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot did to the political class, the arrest of Sanjay Popli has done to the bureaucracy. Unlike earlier, officials no longer want to take up lucrative postings. Some officials, particularly those working in the Revenue Department, where nothing moves without “palms being greased”, are now urging their respective godfathers to shift them to insignificant posts. They do not fear what is in store for them in the future. What they fear is if they are trapped, all their “hard-earned” benami properties could get confiscated. Suddenly, Vigilance sleuths enjoying field postings have become extremely powerful. Senior officers clandestinely admit a DSP (Vigilance) posted at the district level is more influential than the DC he reports to!

Perils of policing

Amritsar: Come summers and one can see the emergence of two-wheeler commuters with covered faces on roads. While it can save you from the unforgiving sun, the practice itself has become a challenge for the police and traffic personnel. With the rising number of snatching incidents, it gives criminals a benefit of anonymity. Adding to the peril of policing, covered faces makes it impossible to make out who the criminal is and who isn’t.

Contributed by Vishav Bharti, Jupinderjit Singh, PK Jaiswar, Ravi Dhaliwal & Neha Walia