New Delhi, July 28
A delegation of Congress Members of Parliament on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), seeking its immediate intervention into the brutal police excesses against sanitation workers belonging to the Scheduled Caste community during a protest in Barnala. The memorandum, addressed to NCSC Chairman Kishor Makwana, said that sanitation workers were subjected to excessive police force, including a baton charge, while peacefully protesting for their “legitimate rights and demands.”
Meanwhile, PCC president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring held the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann responsible for the police brutalities against the sanitation workers as he heads the Home department under which the police comes. Warring described the sanitation workers as ‘Rabb de bandhe’, (the children of God0 who ensure cleanliness everywhere.
The Congress MPs who included PCC president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Dr Amar Singh, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi and Gurjeet Singh Aujla, said that instead of addressing the grievances of the protesting workers, the district administration and police resorted to force, leaving several sanitation workers injured. The MPs sought an impartial inquiry into the incident and appropriate legal action against those responsible.