Sewa Kendra protest cleared in Barnala, 15 employees detained

Bathinda: Police on Tuesday demolished a nearly two-week-old protest site of Sewa Kendra employees at the Barnala district administrative complex and detained 15 people.The crackdown occurred just as department minister Aman Arora had called representatives to Chandigarh for a meeting, and only four days after police lathi-charged protesting apprentice linemen outside the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) headquarters in Patiala. Both the linemen and the kendra employees are demanding the regularisation of their services. There are nearly 3,000 outsourced Sewa Kendra employees across 23 districts in Punjab, including over 100 in Barnala. On June 6, police had also resorted to a lathi-charge on the employees when they assembled at a grain market in Sunam. According to the employees, who have been protesting since May 26, police suddenly swooped down on their site. "They demolished our tent and forcibly evicted us. At least seven female and eight male staffers were detained," they said. Members of farmer organisations BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), BKU (Ekta Dakaunda), and BKU (Kadian) announced to hold protests until all detained employees are released. Barnala SSP Sarfaraz Alam said, "Some of the protesters sitting at the gate of the Sewa Kendra have been detained. They have been asked to sit at a distance, and those detained will be released shortly." MSID:: 131608403 413 |