LIT employees go on strike to press for arrest of assailant

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 6

After holding a dharna for three days in protest against police inaction against the persons who had attacked a team of officials during a demolition and anti-encroachment drive in Model Town Extension, Part I, Dugri Road, on Tuesday, the staff of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) went on strike today. They were demanding immediate arrest of the prime suspect and addition of more stringent criminal sections in the case.

In another development, the staff of various other improvement trusts in the state, including those at Jalandhar, Amritsar, Moga, Nabha, Faridkot and Patiala, also staged protests to express solidarity with their counterparts in Ludhiana.

Responding to the demand by the protesting employees and officials of LIT, especially those who had to bear the brunt of the attack by unlawful occupants and their accomplices, the police have now added sections 332 (causing injury to public servant during discharge of his duty), 448 (trespass) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC to the case. Earlier, the prime suspect, Sonu Jat, and his accomplices were booked under sections 353, 186 and 149 of the IPC.

Model Town SHO Pawan Kumar denied that there was any kind of political pressure or interference against arresting the suspects. “Police parties have been conducting raids on a daily basis to apprehend the culprits and yesterday also, the police raided three possible hideouts,” he said.

Meanwhile, Trust Engineer Jagdev Singh said the delay on the part of the police in arresting the suspects had created a sense of fear and insecurity among the employees and officials. He said the LIT staff would not be in a position to carry out their duty for removal of encroachments in future if the suspects were not arrested and stern action was not taken again them. He said the staff had decided not to resume their duty till the arrest of the prime suspect and his accomplices.