Battle of Batala- battle lines are drawn; CM countered his own colleagues for lack of update
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Now the battle lines are drawn, who will get the congress party ticket from Batala-Sekhri or Bajwa?
Today two major incidents related to Batala happened. First Punjab govt changed the key bureaucrats of Batala and late in the evening chief minister countered his two cabinet colleagues for being unaware about the happenings in their own govt.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said the demand for declaring Batala as a district was already under consideration and a final decision would be taken after due consideration of various issues involved.
He had received a similar representation from another Congress leader last month and was looking into the matter, said the Chief Minister, in response to the demand raised by his cabinet colleagues Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. Further, there have been some reports in the media over the past few days indicating that citizens of Batala have also publicly raised the demand for a new district to be carved out of their region, he pointed out.
The Chief Minister expressed surprise that neither Tript nor Sukhjinder had seen the reports in the public domain nor deemed it fit to discuss the issue with him before shooting off a joint letter in this manner. “Had they come to me and spoken about it, I would have told them that I am already looking into the matter, and would have even consulted them in this regard,” quipped Captain Amarinder, taking a dig at the two ministers.
Capt. Amarinder Singh said that Pratap Bajwa, MP had already demanded a district status for Batala, in his letter dated 11th August 2021 and had cited Batala’s historic importance and its connection with Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji, who had married Mata Sulakhni here in 1487. The Chief Minister said he was cognisant of Batala’s significance to Punjab’s history and culture, as well as the public sentiment. He would discuss the issue with various stakeholders before taking a decision, he added.
Earlier in the day Punjab government has issue the transfer orders of five PCS officers. Out of these five PCS officers, two officers holding the charge of commissioner municipal corporation Batala and SDM Batala get their transfer orders.
Now the charge of commissioner municipal corporation Batala has been given to Jagwinderjit Singh Grewal (PCS of 2004 batch). He is working as additional deputy commissioner (general) Tarn Taran. Earlier the charge of commissioner municipal corporation Batala is with Balwinder Singh (PCS of 2017 batch).
Similarly, the charge of SDM Batala has been given to Shayari Malhotra (PCS of 2017 batch).
September 6,2021
