Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 10

Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu on Tuesday accused activist Yogendra Yadav of inciting the farmers that led to violence on Republic Day.

Speaking during the motion of thanks on the President’s Address in Lok Sabha on Tuesday night, Bittu said, “Yogendra Yadav sabse bada aag lagane wala hai (Yogendra Yadav is the one responsible for inciting farmers that led to violence on January 26).”

Bittu said, “If the government nabs him (Yadav) it will be able to talk directly to the farmers. He is the one who would earlier talk about farm reforms. No farmer is against the country. The people of Punjab can never do anything to harm the dignity of the Tricolour.”

Bittu also claimed that “these people are the ones getting Khalistani funding”.

When Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi asked him to explain the remarks by senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury that the BJP was behind the Republic Day violence while he was accusing Yadav of it, Bittu said that was because of the involvement of Deep Sidhu with BJP MP Sunny Deol.

Joshi accused Bittu of “misleading the people of the country”.

Objections were raised when Bittu claimed that the new laws said the ‘mandi system’ would be done away with. There was commotion when the Punjab MP made a personal remark against Union minister Anurag Thakur, who countered him on his statement.

Accusing him of  misleading the public, Thakur said, “Where is it mentioned in the laws that mandis will be closed? Nowhere do they say that the mandis will be scrapped. They first misled the Punjab farmers and now are misleading the country.”

Rohtak, February 8

The All-Haryana Private School Sangh has decried the state government’s move to suspend a schoolteacher allegedly for attending the ongoing farmers’stir at Tikri.

“The state has suspended Ajay Balhara, who has been training teachers as well as government officials for the success of the state-level ‘paudhagiri’ plantation drive, which is highly deplorable,” said sangh president Ravinder Nandal in a statement issued here on Monday.

“Balhara comes from a farming family and had gone there to know the concerns of the protesters, which is not a violation of any rule of law or constitutional provision,” said Nandal. The teachers’ association has demanded immediate reinstatement of Balhara, who had been serving as a postgraduate teacher of biology and was currently posted as the programme officer at the Director (Secondary Education), Haryana, at Panchkula. — TNS

Ahmedabad, February 10

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered status quo on the dismantling of decommissioned aircraft carrier ‘Viraat’, but a Gujarat-based ship-breaker who has purchased it said it is now too late for any restoration effort.

Over 40 per cent of the dismantling work has been completed so far, said Mukesh Patel, Chairman of Shree Ram Group based at Alang in Bhavnagar district which bought the ship at an auction in July last year for Rs 38.54 crore.

The firm began the dismantling at its ship-breaking yard at Alang in December 2020, and now it is impossible to reassemble the parts that have been cut, he said.

“Over 40 per cent of dismantling work is complete. We have already pulled the ship towards the shore and also dismantled some portions of the hull, making it impossible for the ship to remain afloat now,” said Patel, after learning about the SC order from the media.

“I have not received any notice yet from the court.

But it is already too late for the ship to be used for any other purpose. Our legal team would submit a reply if a notice is served to us,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered status quo on the dismantling of ‘Viraat’ which was in service with the Indian Navy for nearly three decades.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre and others seeking response on a plea filed by a firm which seeks preservation of the ship as a museum.

The centaur-class aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, was in service with the Indian Navy for 29 years before being decommissioned in March 2017.

The Centre had in July 2019 informed Parliament that the decision to scrap Viraat was taken after due consultation with the Indian Navy. — PTI

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Sonepat, February 8

Farmers’ groups from Punjab have come out in support of the two farmers’ groups suspended after the violence in Delhi on Republic Day.

During a meeting of the forum of 32 Punjab farmers’ groups at Kundli yesterday, the farmer leaders questioned the suspension of the two farmer groups and demanded revocation of their suspension. The three-member panel formed to look into the issue also sought more time to submit its report.

• Also read: Palwal farmers start installing submersible pump at stir site
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• Vested interests misleading farmers: MPs

The joint forum of 32 farmer unions had on January 27 suspended Surjeet Singh Phool, president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari), and Harpal Singh Sangha of the Azaad Kisan Committee, Doaba, for reportedly deviating from their route during the tractor march in the Capital.

According to sources, the issue of suspension was raised by other farmer leaders from Punjab. They asked why action was initiated only against two groups when thousands of farmers had turned towards the Outer Ring Road on Republic Day.

The farmer leaders stated that they had deviated from the route due to a traffic jam on account of tractors and other vehicles.

The farmer leaders demanded revocation of the suspension and the matter was deferred for the next meeting as three senior leaders — Darshan Pal Singh, Balbir Singh Rajewal and Jagjeet Singh Dallewal — were not present.

Major Singh Punnawal, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, and Baldev Singh Nihalgarh, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, submitted their statements in writing to the three-member panel.

They stated that they had deviated from the route unknowingly and turned towards the Outer Ring Road. They stated that when Harpal Singh Sangha, accompanying them, came to know of this, he decided to move back to the border.

They stated that their vehicle developed a fault, after which they reached Kundli in a private vehicle. A farmer leader from Punjab said on the condition of anonymity that the committee had sought four days to submit its report.

Kin of Accused seek fair probe

Karnal: “My father is innocent. He couldn’t have indulged in any violence,” says Amarjeet Singh, son of Sukhdev Singh (60), who was arrested by the Delhi Police from Chandigarh in connection with the Red Fort violence. “My father had been camping at Singhu for over two months. On Sunday, we were told that he was arrested from Chandigarh. He is innocent.” Seeking a fair probe, Sukhdev’s family claimed the police were hiding the truth. TNS

Tribune News Service
Sonepat, February 10

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Wednesday decided to intensify the farmers’ movement.

The farmers will observe ‘rail roko’ (rail blockade) on February 18 for four hours from 12 pm to 4 pm across India.

Sukhmeet Bhasin
Tribune News Service
Mansa, February 8

The family members of martyr Sepoy Gurtej Singh of Mansa, who sacrificed his life in a clash with the Chinese army at Galwan valley in Ladakh last year, are upset over farmers being called terrorists, Naxals and separatists.

Gurtej’s father Virsa Singh, a resident of Birewala Dogra village in Budhlada subtehsil, is a marginal farmer and does farming on around three acres. He said: “We are opposing the farm laws as these will hit the marginal farmers like me hard. We demand the repeal of the laws at the earliest.”

He said even he had gone to the Tikri border on his tractor to protest the three farm laws. “Our son gave his life guarding the country’s border. It really pains us when we hear media houses and politicians terming us terrorists, Naxals and separatists. But we cannot do anything,” he said.

On January 26, martyr Sepoy Gurtej Singh was conferred with Param Vir Chakra posthumously. Manmander Singh Birewala, relative of the martyr, said: “We are proud that my nephew laid down his life fighting for the nation. We are part of India and nobody is demanding a separate state. We just want the three farm laws to be repealed”. He said he was not happy how the things unfolded at the Red Fort on Republic Day.

The martyr’s family has made an NGO, Shaheed Gurtej Singh Welfare Foundation. In June, 2020, Sepoy Gurtej Singh was amongst the 20 soldiers who attained martyrdom fighting with the Chinese army in Galwan valley

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

Joshimath, February 8

Away from the anxieties dotting the flashflood-ravaged sites in Chamoli where rescue operation is underway, the ITBP’s base hospital at Joshimath in Uttarakhand presents a picture of hope.

Recuperating at this facility are 12 workers of the NTPC’s Tapovan hydel project, devastated by Sunday’s Nanda Devi glacier burst that left at least 26 dead while over 171 are missing. In shock, the rescued workers recount their brush with death and how they held on to life trapped in a slush-filled tunnel for over five hours on Sunday until ITBP teams arrived and pulled them out using ropes. “I was working in the tunnel when alarm bells suddenly went off.

Within seconds, there was frenzied commotion. All were shouting ‘bhago paani ka sailaab aa raha hai’ (save yourself from the deluge). I felt numb for a second, but mustered courage to run—albeit in the direction of water.

“The last thing I remember was getting stuck in slush until I was pulled out. Those six hours were the darkest in my life,” says Himachal Pradesh’s Satish Kumar, 31, among the first few to be rescued.

Andhra Pradesh’s KS Reddy, an electrician, says it’s surreal to be alive. “I normally don’t work in the tunnel but yesterday around 9.30 am, I went in to fix some lights. Around 10.15 am, water gushed inside, sweeping along several workers. The electrical wire I was carrying proved my saviour as I used it to anchor myself along the tunnel wall,” the 50-year-old recounts.

Among the survivors are Nepali nationals Chitra, Kiran, Basant and Sant Bahadur, all in shock, speechless, barely able to fold hands in gratitude when asked, “Are you fine?”

Uttar Pradesh’s Virendra Kumar, pulled out with ropes as machines could not work inside the tunnels, recalls, “I fell unconscious as the wall of water hit us. Don’t remember what happened next and regained consciousness only after reaching the hospital.”

Four Chamoli residents—Lal Bahadur, Rakesh Bhatt, Suraj and Vinod Singh—too survived, courtesy ITBP personnel who proved to be a godsend amid the catastrophe.

New Delhi, February 8

Lok Sabha resumed normal functioning Monday after a week-long disruption over the three Central farm laws following an appeal by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that it was a duty of every member to maintain the tradition of passing the Motion of Thanks to President’s address.

After the House convened at 5 pm, Singh said the tradition of thanking the President has been continuing for long and it should not be broken in a healthy democracy.

He also said that Rajya Sabha has already passed the Motion of Thanks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply and “I appeal to members not to break this tradition in the Lok Sabha”.

Singh said members are free to speak on farm laws during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks.

Congress Leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury too said this tradition has been continuing since 1921 and should not be broken.

“Our demand was to discuss the issue of farmers who have been sitting in the cold on the borders of Delhi in protest against farm laws. It is regrettable that they are being stopped from entering the capital by sharp nails and barbed wires,” he said referring to the reinforced barricading at the farmers’ protest sites.

He said the Opposition wanted an assurance from the government for a standalone discussion on the farmers’ issue either after the debate on Motion of Thanks or after the discussion on Budget.

Speaker Om Birla also appealed to the members to allow the House to function and not indulge in sloganeering.

The House was repeatedly disrupted by the Opposition members from February 2 over the three farm laws which was passed by Parliament in September last year.

Earlier Birla had called a meeting of leaders of different political parties to break the impasse in the House.

In the meeting, an agreement was reached to resume its normal functioning with Singh making an appeal to start the debate on President’s address. PTI