PunjabChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday issued a stern warning againstvandalisation of mobile towers and disruption of telecom services in the state,and directed police to take strict action against all those resorting to suchunlawful activities.
Makingit clear that he will not tolerate destruction of any private or publicproperty in Punjab, the Chief Minister said he was forced to toughen his stanceas his repeated appeals to perpetrators of such acts had been ignored.
TheChief Minister asserted that he will not let Punjab by plunged into anarchy atany cost and nobody can be allowed to take law into their hands. Pointing outthat his government had not objected to,or stopped, peaceful protests in the state against the Centre’s black Farm Lawsfor the past several months, he said that damage to property and inconvenienceto the citizens could not, however, be endured.
TheChief Minister’s warning came as the total number of mobile towers impacted inthe state went up to 1561, of which 25 had been physically damaged, allegedlyby some farmers and their supporters in violation of the directions of theKisan Unions to keep their protests against the Centre’s black Farm Lawspeaceful.
Callingupon farmers and their supporters to put an immediate stop to such destructiveactivities, which were being disowned by farmer leaders themselves, the ChiefMinister said disruption of telecom services could lead to a communicationsblackout in the state, causing its people, especially students and workingprofessionals, to suffer serious consequences.
Withexaminations, especially Board exams, nearing and students dependent on onlineeducation amid the Covid pandemic, such communication breakdown could seriouslyaffect their future, he said. The Chief Minister said his government hadalready distributed 1.75 lakh Smart Phones to class XII students to equip themfor the Board exams, but the vandalization of telecom property was hamperingthe students.
TheChief Minister further said that professionals working from home, with many ofthem having come to Punjab during the pandemic, could lose their jobs due tosuch acts of violence and damage to property. Even banking services, which werealso largely dependent on online transactions in these times of crisis, weretaking a major hit due to these unlawful acts, he added.
Thefarmers’ agitation had so far been successful and had garnered the support ofpeople from all sections of the society and across the country due to itspeaceful nature, said the Chief Minister, warning that use of violence couldalienate the protestors from the masses, which would be detrimental to theinterests of the farming community.
Whilehis government’s sympathies were with the agitating farmers, which was why ithad also brought in state amendment Bills in the Vidhan Sabha to negate thecentral government’s legislations, nobody could be allowed to take law andorder in their hands, said Captain Amarinder.
Ofthe 1561 towers affected over the past few days, 146 were impacted since Mondaymorning due to disruption of power supply to 32 towers, which led todisconnection of services of the remaining 114. So far, 433 towers have beenrepaired, according to an official spokesperson. The state has a total of 21306mobile towers spread across its 22 districts.