Farmers Movement Archive

Chandigarh: Heavy police deployment, barricading leave Sector-48 residents harried

Several residents of Sector 48 were left harried amid heavy police deployment and barricading off parts of the sector as city mayor Ravi Kant Sharma inaugurated a dedicated water supply line to Kendriya Vihar Society here.Still jittery after the attack on Sharma and senior BJP leader Sanjay Tandon on July 17, the UT police even locked the gates of some societies in the area, complained the residents.Local Congress leader and president of the resident welfare association of Universal Enclave, Sector 48, Devinder Gupta, claimed, “The main gate of the society was locked by the police and they even took away the key. The gate was finally opened more than two hours later.”“This is a dictatorial act by the police. I had to request SSP Kuldeep Chahal, who ordered the SHO to open the gates of the societies and let residents move about,” said another Congress leader Sandeep Bhardwaj, who is also a resident of the sector.Due to the barricading, residents had to take a detour to reach their homes. “Maids in our society said they couldn’t come as police had blocked the roads,” said a resident of Universal Society, who didn’t wish to be named.Police not taking any chancesAs many as 200 cops from the entire sub-division were deployed on Monday to ensure that no law and order situation arises. Though no shops were closed, the venue was completely cordoned off.After the July 17 attack, allegedly by anti-farm laws protesters, the police were not taking any chances, ensuring heavy deployment at functions involving the mayor or Sanjay Tandon.Even earlier on July 20, a section of Kajheri village was cordoned off for securing an event attended by the mayor. Similarly on July 19, when Sharma visited Sector 45 to inaugurate a couple of civic projects, the road starting from the Government Model School of Sector 45, right next to the traffic light-point of Sector 44/45, was blocked and barricaded by the Chandigarh Police and even the shops in the area were closed.The UT police on July 24, too, had deployed around 900 personnel for preventing any law and order situation during four functions attended by senior BJP leader Sanjay Tandon at a government school in Khuda Ali Sher village, at the government school in Sector 40A, in Sector 29, and at Daria village.“We had closed unauthorised entry to the area in the wake of the programme. The movement of residents was allowed through another gate to ensure no untoward incident is reported,” said the station house officer of Sector 49, Surinder Singh.The police had diverted traffic and even blocked the entry from the side of the Motor Market, where the mayor’s vehicle was attacked on July 17.

Hindustan Times

27-07-2021

Chandigarh