Congress flays Opposition over walkout

A blame-game has started between the ruling Congress and the Opposition parties regarding the first meeting of the Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, scheduled for Friday.

While the State Government is flaying the Opposition, led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for staging a walkout from the crucial meeting, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party combine lashed out over the absence of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh from the meeting which was to be chaired by him.

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot lashed out at the opposition, led by AAP, “for obstructing and walking out of a crucial meeting of the high-powered state level Committee, which was convened by the government to take a series of vital decisions, including stringent steps to implement the Prevention of Atrocities Act in the state.

“With the opposition staging a walkout, it was left to the government to discuss and finalise various initiatives in the interest of the SCs and STs in the state,” said an official spokesperson after the meeting, which was the first in more than three years.

After the meeting, Manpreet said that the opposition chose to walk out, citing the absence of the Chief Minister, instead of participating constructively in the deliberations. “This is shameful since Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had been indisposed and could not attend the meeting, which the government then decided not to cancel in the interest of the larger welfare of the SC/ST community,” he said.

The Chief Minister had also came out with a categorical statement that he did not want to delay the long overdue meeting any further and had, thus, directed his cabinet colleagues to preside over the proceedings.

Making it clear that he would definitely be present in the next meeting of the committee, Capt Amarinder said that the decisions taken by the committee would have the same sanctity as would have been the case in his presence.

Manpreet had, in fact, given an assurance to this effect during the meeting itself when a Congress member of the committee raised the issue, said the spokesperson.

The meeting took several important decisions, including holding of a meeting of the committee every six months — in January and July, from now on, said the spokesperson, adding that the government reiterated its firm commitment to implement the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act) across the state in letter and spirit. A decision was also taken to soon issue a notification incorporating the amendments made in the Act in 2015.

Giving details of previous meetings of the committee, Dharamsot said that the as per the provisions of Act, meetings should have been held every six months but the previous government did not hold the meeting as per schedule, and the last meeting was convened in 2015 and prior to that in 2006.

Even in the meeting held in 2015, issues relating to the Prevention of Atrocities Act were never discussed and only the Shagun Scheme was deliberated upon as per the minutes recorded at that time. “Capt Amarinder led Punjab Government had now made it mandatory to hold such meetings as per the schedule in the Act,” he said.

Later interacting with the media persons, Manpreet criticized the opponents for staging a walkout from the meeting, thereby depriving themselves of an important opportunity to raise issues related to the welfare of the SC community.

To a query regarding the resentment shown by members of opposition parties due to Chief Minister's inability to chair the meeting, Manpreet clarified that Capt Amarinder Singh could not attend the meeting as he was indisposed.

“All opposition members, as responsible legislators, should refrain from politicizing such issues as these meetings always serve as a useful platform to resolve the concerns of the people after thorough deliberations,” he said.

Manpreet said that it was the collective responsibility of all the legislators to participate in such meetings in the larger public interest and asserted that any decision taken at this forum would have equal importance and relevance as taken by the Chief Minister.

“To ensure strict implementation of the Act, it had been decided that the government would not tolerate any laxity by any official in this regard. Punjab Government would soon notify the amended Prevention of Atrocities Act-2015 to facilitate increase in the conviction rate in such cases,” he said.

Chairing the meeting, Dharamsot earlier said that the Committee has also decided to hold quarterly meetings of Deputy Commissioners, District and Sessions Judges and Commissioners of Police or Senior Superintendents of Police with the district authorities so as to implement the Prevention of Atrocities Act in right earnest for restoring the confidence of the members of SC community at the grassroots level.