Engineers to strike work over attacks by ‘farmers’

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 4

After a spate of attacks on the employees of the Water Resources Department, junior engineers (JEs) have decided to stage a protest against farmers. The Diploma Engineers’ Association, in an emergency meeting on Sunday, has decided that they won’t do any work until the police book and arrest all the accused of the recent attacks on their colleagues.

In a recent attack allegedly by farmers at Kheri Mandla village, two junior engineers and an SDO were injured. A team of the department was on a round of inspection to curb water thefts by farmers when it was attacked. One of the junior engineers, who had received a fracture on his left arm, is still undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Patiala.

Balwinder Sharma, adviser to the association, said, “Until the police arrest all the accused, we will continue to protest. One of JEs has received three fractures on his left arm in an attack.”

“The farmers are backed by local political leaders,” said an official of the department. A senior official said they had been sending written communications to the police to take action against the incidents of water thefts, but to no avail.

Sukhwinder Singh Gill, Station House Officer, Nabha Sadar, said, “No one has been arrested so far. We are conducting raids to nab the accused. Hopefully, they will be arrested soon.”