Lockdown-like situation outside Pargat Singh's house in Jalandhar

Avneet Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 3

Residents residing in Dashmesh Avenue are at the receiving end as the locality has turned into a protesting ground ever since MLA Pargat Singh was given cabinet berth and education portfolio.

In the past few months, various protests have taken place outside his residence here at Dashmesh Avenue resulting in barricading the entire area, specifically the main road leading to the locality. Although the situation was normal in other streets of the colony, street No. 3 was blocked from both sides with barricades.

At one side of the street, ETT teachers were holding ‘pucca’ dharna, while on the other side, members of the Government College Guest Faculty Assistant Professors’ Association had put up their tents and trolleys.

What protesters say

• “It’s been 26 days that we 180 ETT teachers have been protesting here. Only 17 teachers are from Jalandhar, while the rest from Gurdaspur, Patiala, Amritsar and other districts of the state. We ourselves are facing a lot of problems as we have to travel 3 km to use washrooms and take a bath,” said Kamal Thakur, president of ETT Teachers Association, requesting the state government to pay heed to their demands. He also said the teachers were protesting peacefully and even locals have lent their support to them.
• Dashmesh Avenue street 3 has turned into a protesting ground and both entries to the street have been blocked by police barricades restricting the movement of locals.

‘No protests in residential areas please’

• Both entries to Dashmesh Avenue street 3 have been barricaded with residents confined to their homes
• If there’s a rally or huge protest march, residents say that entire area gets blocked restricting commuters movement
• Protests and political activities in residential areas and on roads must be banned as these cause huge inconvenience to residents, locals said

Meanwhile, the entire street wears a deserted look with residents resorting to staying indoors. Even though the police claimed that they open barricades whenever locals have to cross, the area residents said they are forced to park their cars in an empty plot outside the street where vehicles of protesters have been parked.

“Every other day there is a protest, the entire area has become a hotspot of politics and we common people are the main sufferers,” said Sandeep Bakshi, who lives in the same locality. He said there used to be political activities earlier too when Pargat Singh was not a minister, but protests, police barricading and among other activities have intensified since he became a minister.

Another resident said in November when the members of the Unemployed Physical Training Instructor (PTI) Teachers barged into the minister’s residence and a scuffle took place between the police personnel and teachers, the entire area was sealed restricting commuters’ movement.

“These teachers sometimes take out ‘jaago’, beat dhols and raise slogans disturbing the entire locality but who cares. Pargat Singh himself stays in Chandigarh for most of the time and here we residents have been bearing the brunt,” he added. He further said that the situation was no less than a lockdown as they can’t let their kids stay out nor can they invite guests to their homes.

Meanwhile, the protesting ETT teachers and guest faculty professors said they have asked the police to remove the barricades as they have decided to protest peacefully. The police said barricades have been placed to ensure security of the minister’s residence besides those residing in the area as in the past some protestors have stormed into the minister’s residence, which caused a huge inconvenience to his aged and ailing parents. Despite repeated attempts to contact Education Minister Pargat Singh for two consecutive days, he was unavailable for comments.