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Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 11
As the trend for colonies with gates and barricades is increasing in the city, residents of the Green Field locality have filed a complaint with the Election Commission, stating that a police official in their area has blocked their passage by installing iron barricades on the street.
The residents alleged that they used the street in which ASI Mangal Singh who is close to BJP leader Anil Joshi has blocked their passage.
They stated that the barricades were installed after the code of conduct was announced and thus it is a clear violation of the code. Iqbal Singh of the area said, “People have to now use a longer passage to get to the main road. The entry from our side has been blocked. Nobody should restrict entry to a public road.”
The residents have filed a complaint with the Improvement Trust. Even a team of observers appointed by the election office visited the area and met the residents today. The residents narrated that as the ASI is close to the BJP leader heading the Local Bodies Department, even the MC has not dared to stop him.
The tendency to barricade streets in posh areas and restrict the entry of common people has already been highlighted during the recent general body meeting where at least three councillors had protested against the gates and barricades being installed outside streets.
An area resident, Jagtar Singh, said, “Rich people often instal gates at entry point to their streets, so that commoners who do not live in posh colonies do not enter their areas. It is a kind of discrimination by the rich against the poor.” He said they hope that the election commission would take strict action such a practice.
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