The Ludhiana’s Sadar police Monday registered an FIR against 40 to 50 residents of ward 31 for staging a protest outside the residence of Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina in Satjot Nagar on Sunday. Chinna is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Ludhiana south constituency.
The locals were outraged by the area’s irregular electricity supply, lack of potable water, and poor water quality. According to reports, the residents had been facing these issues for the last 15 days. Despite filling repeated complaints with officials concerned, no action was taken. The angry residents Sunday sat on a Dharna outside the local AAP MLA’s house to protest against the same.
According to reports, the police booked the residents based on a complaint filed by assistant sub-inspector Subhash Chand. The ASI said that he had received a complaint from the AAP MLA where she said that the protestors had blocked the entrance of her house and were not allowing her to leave her residence. She also claimed that the protestors had obstructed the flow of traffic in the area.
The ASI further added that the residents have been booked under sections 342 (wrongful confinement) and 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) of IPC.
It may be recalled that last month a video had gone viral wherein the South Ludhiana’s Aam Aadmi Party MLA Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina could be seen rebuking ADCP on duty for conducting a search in her constituency. The search, which was obstructed by the MLA, was being conducted to nab drug peddlers.
In a video, Chinna was heard questioning the lady officer for not taking her ‘permission’ before conducting a search in her area. Giving the clarification officer on duty said, “I came here on DCP’s order”.
Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina is the first female legislator to represent any of Ludhiana’s six urban areas. She joined AAP in 2012 and overtook the stronghold of Simarjit Singh Bains, the leader of the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), and two-time MLA Balwinder Bains. Chhina has served as the vice-president of AAP’s Mahila wing in Punjab. She was unable to contest the 2017 Assembly elections because LIP received the Ludhiana South seat as part of the seat-sharing agreement after AAP formed an alliance with them.
AAP had promised round-the-clock free electricity supply to everyone in Punjab
Meanwhile, it may be recalled that to woo the voters, one of the major poll promises of AAP was freebies to the Punjab people. AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised round-the-clock free electricity supply to everyone in Punjab. In April, however, the tariff for electricity for this year has been announced, and there is no sign so far that the government has any plans to fulfil the pre-poll promise.
AAP has been talking about free electricity in Punjab for a long time. It was one of the first promises it had made since the party started campaigning in Punjab. The promise can be traced back to June 29, 2021, when AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal announced that not only the old domestic bills will be waived off, but the AAP government, if elected in Assembly elections, would provide 300 units free to every household without any discrimination.
To be noted, he had claimed his government was providing 24×7 uninterrupted power in the national capital as well. Interestingly, however, AAP’s Delhi Government was found selling electricity in the national market when there was an alleged shortage of coal, and AAP leaders were blaming the BJP-led central government for the possibility of a blackout in Delhi.
