Merger of 800 primary govt schools: SAD stages dharna

One of the primary schools in Mohali that was selected for shutting down. (Express Photo) 

THE SHIROMANI Akali Dal (Badal) staged a dharna outside the office of the Amritsar deputy commissioner Friday in protest against the Punjab government’s proposal to merge 800 schools across Punjab. In a recent circular, the government had laid out its plan to merge 800 primary schools where there are less than 20 students. The schools, according to the government order, were to be merged with other primary schools falling within its one-km radius. On Friday, the Akali leaders were also accompanied by some school students and their parents, who said the government’s proposal would adversely affect them. They submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

The power tariff hike issue and alleged introduction of new taxes were also raised during the dharna. Former minister and SAD general secretary Bikram Singh Majithia said, “In a welfare State it was the duty of the government to provide primary education to children at their doorstep. Instead of expanding on the primary school network established by the previous SAD-BJP government led by Sardar Parkash Singh Badal, the Congress government had decided to shut down 800 schools, including 30 in Amritsar district.”

Majithia said, “This will have an adverse impact on the economically weaker section of society.” SAD also demanded immediate revocation of the steep power hike of 10-12 per cent on domestic power consumption which was being implemented with retrospective effect from April, 2017.

The Akali leader also asked farmers participating in the dharna not to allow the government to install electricity meters on their tubewells. They said the government was doing this in a “clandestine manner” with the “excuse” that it wanted to check consumption. “The real agenda is to impose power bills on farmers. More anti-people measures are in the offing. We must all unite to ensure they are not implemented”, said Majithia.

On demand of Congress MLAs of action against him, Majithia said “All allegations against me have been filed in court thrice through PILs which were in reality ‘Politically Interested Litigations.’ All three were dismissed. I would only like to state that the courts of the land proceed on merit and not hatred. We are not living in a banana republic. This is a democracy. There is a law of the land which decides everything. No Congressman should think he can silence the opposition by launching a personal vendetta drive against anyone. Everyone knows the hatred the Congress has for Punjabis.”