SGPC slams BJP for nominating 41 members to Haryana Sikh body

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 16

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) today slammed the Haryana Government for nominating 41 members to the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) on August 14.

SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami said: “It’s now clearly visible that the HSGPC is being run by the Haryana Government.”

The SGPC chief said the treatment meted out to Bandi Singhs (Sikh political prisoners) showed that the Sikhs continue to be ‘gulams’ (slaves). He said several Bandi Singhs even after undergoing 34 years of prison continue to be behind bars.

Referring to a decision taken by the Centre in 2019, he said it had been stated that Bandi Singhs would be released on parole and the capital punishment of Balwant Singh Rajoana would be pardoned.

Dhami said, “The SGPC will send a delegation to meet President Droupadi Murmu to request her to endorse Rajoana’s mercy petition.”

In others decision, the SGPC executive decided to give four per cent dearness allowance to its employees, a job and Rs 5 lakh to the family of sewadar Baldev Singh, who recently died after slipping into a hot vessel.

Similarly, a job and Rs five lakh were offered to the family of a sewadar who succumbed to his injuries sustained in an LPG blast at a gurdwara in Ferozepur. The SGPC also offered Rs 75,000 to the families of another sewadar and five children who were also injured in the cylinder blast.

It also announced Rs five lakh for ‘Sabat Surat’ Jarmanpreet Singh, who was part of the Indian hockey team, which won the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics.