SAD president Sukhbir S Badal visits Sambhav Jain, says deterioration of law and order would lead to further migration of industry to other States

Ludhiana, November 20, 2023: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today expressed shock at the repeated manner in which industrialists and traders were being targeted by gangsters under Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation and asserted this would lead to even further migration of industry to other States, including Uttar Pradesh.

The SAD president visited the city to meet hosiery industry owner Sambhav Jain who had a providential escape after he was shot by his kidnappers. He also interacted with prominent members of the hosiery industry who told him that they were feeling so unsafe that they were ready to hand over the keys of their establishments to chief minister Bhagwant Mann. A senior industrialist mentioned how four snatchings and dacoities had occurred on a single day recently; adding industrialists also had to face extortions from government agencies including the Pollution Control Board.

Talking to newsmen, Sukhbir Badal said “even though it is more than one year that industrialists and traders are receiving extortion calls from gangsters and even being killed, the chief minister has failed to take effective steps against the gangsters who even continue to indulge in their nefarious activities from jail”. He said the downward spiral in the law and order situation in Punjab had forced industrialists from the State to invest in Uttar Pradesh and other States. “Now this tendency has increased and many industrialists are moving lock, stock and barrel from the State”. He said this trend would result in increased unemployment besides dealing a death blow to Punjab’s industrial sector.

Badal also spoke at how gangsters had become so emboldened that they were striking at will. He gave the recent example of how a restaurant owner in Bathinda was murdered in broad daylight close to a police check post. He also mentioned similar gruesome killings in Nakodar and Faridkot . Mr Badal also asserted that the situation had deteriorated to such a level that even police personnel were not safe now while giving the example of how a constable was killed in Barnala last month and an ASI in Amritsar this year.

The SAD president said it was shocking that despite all this, chief minister Bhagwant Mann had refused to take corrective measures in his role as home minister and continued to waste time ferrying AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal to other States on Punjab government exchequer expense.

Senior Akali leaders, Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, Ranjit Singh Dhillon, Vijay Danav, Kamal Chaitley, Vipin Kaka Sood also accompanied him to the hospital.

Earlier, during his visit to Ludhiana, Sukhbir Singh Badal alongwith his wife and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal visited Maheshinder Singh Grewal to express condolences over the demise of his brother.