Scholarship scam: SAD to hold rally in Nabha on Nov 2

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 13

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Scheduled Caste (SC) wing today said the party would hold a rally in Nabha on November 2 to demand the immediate sacking and arrest of Cabinet Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot. It urged all SC associations in the state to unite and demand justice for Dalit children whose scholarship money had been allegedly embezzled by Dharamsot and his associates.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of a 27-member committee formed by the party on Dalit issues, which was presided over by senior leader Charanjit Singh Atwal.

Atwal and SC wing president Gulzar Singh Ranike said besides holding a rally, the party would also lead an agitation in Phagwara in November to demand registration of a criminal case against former SC Welfare Department Director and Phagwara legislator Balwinder Singh Dhillon, who was a prime accused in the Rs 69 crore SC scholarship scam. They also demanded a high-level inquiry into all “irregularities” in the shagun scheme and old-age pension plan.

Atwal and Ranike urged all Dalit student unions as well as SC organisations to support the SAD in its “fight for justice” for more than 3 lakh SC students.

Meanwhile, the SAD legislative wing today asked Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh to call a special session to enact a new legislation to make the entire state a single marketing yard, annul the amended APMC Act of 2017 and announce that the three farm laws would not be implemented in Punjab.