Members of parents' association garland Ludhiana DEO with shoes

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 31

The District Education Officer (Secondary) has given a complaint to the police after he was insulted and garlanded with shoes by some persons in his office here on Friday.

Members of a parents’ association went to meet the DEO and told him that they want to honour him today. According to the DEO, they first garlanded him with flowers and then one of them in a very insulting manner and deceitfully garlanded him with shoes.

DEO Lakhvir Singh said, “I have given a complaint to the police to take action against the accused. Members of a parents’ association of private schools, including Rajinder Ghai, came today. The members said they want to honour me. Firstly, they garlanded me with flowers and then they deceitfully insulted me. I want legal action against them.”

The teachers’ unions have strongly condemned the incident and came in the supports of the officer. They have demanded that a FIR be registered against the members of the parents’ association and they must be arrested at the earliest.

State legal adviser of the Government Science School Lecturers Union Varinder Pathak strongly condemned the incident. Coming in support of the DEO, Pathak said, “Action must be taken against the persons who insulted the officer. If anyone has an issue, it can be sorted out by talks. We want strict action against the persons behind the incident.”

Government Teachers Union president, Jagjeet Singh Mann said, “We strongly criticised today’s incident. We stand with the DEO. We demand from the administration and police to take strict action against the members of the parents’ association.”

Praveen Kumar, secretary, and other members of the Government School Teachers Union, District Ludhiana, said it is a very shameful act done by members of the parents’ association. “The issues can be sorted out in a democratic way. We demand from the Punjab Government to take strict action against the members of the parents’ association,” he added.

Parents’ Association president Rajinder Ghai alleged, “We had made a number of complaints regarding various issues but the DEO (Secondary) did not take any action on the complaints. Thus, we marked the protest by garlanding the DEO with shoes.”