‘Inquiry into discovery of 4,000 ration kits by Ashu a sham’

Describing the inquiry ordered into the discovery of 4,000 ration kits meant to be distributed among the poor from a private school belonging to a Congress councillor as mere whitewash, SAD district president Ranjit Singh Dhillon claims that an FIR should be registered and a vigilance inquiry be conducted into the incident. In an inerview with Mohit Behl, the Akali leader also blamed local Congress leaders and district authorities for their ‘failure’ in containing the spread of Covid-19 cases in the district
Q. How do you respond to the claims of Congress leaders that it distributed free ration among lakhs of people during this lockdown and the needy had been helped?
This is another bundle of lies by the Congress leaders who are expert in befooling people by making false promises and claims. The ground reality of their ration distribution programme was exposed when thousands of people had to stand in long queues for hours and days for collecting ration. Many of them were turned away by saying that their family members had already been given ration. There was total mismanagement in the ration distribution as their helpline number proved to be a big failure as several families could not connect to the number and get ration whereas some families got the ration multiple times by calling the helpline from different numbers. A majority of the ration kits did not reach the right beneficiaries and there is a high probability that thousands of such kits could have been usurped by some elements who are close to the ruling party.
Q. When cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has himself marked an inquiry into the incident of stocking of 4,000 ration kits by a Congress councillor, how are you claiming that the Congress wants to suppress this case ?
The inquiry has been marked by Ashu, who also is the food supply minister. How can you expect the inquiry to be fair when his own department and then a Congress councillor is involved in this case. What was the need for inquiry when the matter is quite clear. What were 4,000 ration kits of the state government doing in a school of ruling party councillor. Instead of getting an FIR registered an inquiry has been marked in this case which is just an eyewash. If Ashu or Congress government is really serious about this case, then why not let the vigilance bureau (VB) probe this matter. Since there is no doubt that government officials are also involved in this case because it’s not possible for the councillor to stock thousands of kits without knowledge of government officers, registration of an FIR and a VB probe is a must in this case or else it will be hushed up for sure.
Q. What is your take on the current situation of Covid-19 in Ludhiana and what is your take on handling of the situation by the government?
The current situation is very alarming when there is such a big spurt in the cases of Covid-19 and the death rate as well. Both authorities and the ruling party leaders have done nothing to contain the situation and remained mute spectators. Due to the half-hearted response of the departments concerned and Congress leaders limiting themselves to mere photo ops in this situation, the Covid-19 cases in Ludhiana not only reached such dangerous levels, but hundreds of innocent lives too were lost. Now, because of their response the situation has reached such a point that there is shortage of beds and equipment in city like Ludhiana, which has the most developed medical infrastructure in north India.
Q. Do you think the current restrictions like weekend curfew and 6.30pm deadline will yield any result in controlling the Covid-19 cases?
I think these are the decisions which have been taken without proper planning and therefore such restrictions are not going to yield any results on ground and instead these are leading to harassment of the business fraternity which is already reeling under huge pressure due to mounting losses. What is the logic behind shutting shops and offices at 6.30pm? Does this mean that Covid-19 cases do not spread after this time. Rather than passing such draconian laws, which are hitting economy so badly some sensible decisions should be taken to combat the stuation, like ensuring proper social distancing, sanitisation of markets, shops, offices, factories at government expenses, free distribution of masks among people.