Bishnoi’s interview: LoP Bajwa calls for JPC-like House panel for probe

Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)-like panel of the state assembly for a probe into the matter of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s interview and involvement of police officials.
Bajwa raised the demand for the assembly committee, on the lines of JPC constituted in Parliament to look at important issues, on the floor of the House during zero hour on the second day of the ongoing monsoon session of the Punjab assembly. The interviews of Bishnoi, the mastermind in Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s killing, were aired by a private news channel in March 2023. A special investigation team (SIT) led by special director general of police Prabodh Kumar, in its report submitted to the Punjab and Haryana high court two months ago, had revealed that the first interview took place on the CIA premises in Kharar and the second interview was conducted while Bishnoi was in Rajasthan.
Raising the issue, Bajwa said the SIT report should be tabled in the House as the special DGP had made a disclosure that one interview was conducted in Kharar CIA for which one SP-level officer’s phone was given. “In a matter related to an ASI of Punjab Police, the entire House supported your view that the DGP should lay a report. This is a bigger matter. In Parliament, JPCs of both Houses are set up on important matters. I demand an assembly committee to look into allegations against the police,” the Congress leader said to Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, referring to an issue raised by the latter regarding a Kotkapura-based assistant sub-inspector (ASI), who is accused of demanding money from a gangster. The LoP said the assembly committee should be set up and Prabodh Kumar probe the matter as the entire state wanted to know which officials and agency were involved and supporting the gangsters.
Bajwa also demanded that an all-party delegation should be formed to meet the representatives of farmer unions who have been sitting on protest in Chandigarh and nearby areas for the past several days, and discuss their demands. “The demands related to Centre should be taken up by the Punjab government with the Central government, whereas the ones related to the state should be considered by the state government. Instead of making the farmers of Punjab roll on the streets in Chandigarh, their problems should be solved on priority so that they can return to their homes,” he said in the House.
Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar and Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali flagged the fertiliser shortage issue, pressing the need for urgent steps by the state government to tackle the problem. Jakhar said the state government needed to take up the availability of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) with the Central government on priority. “Neither the chief minister nor the minister had met the Central minister,” he said. Ayali also spoke about fertiliser distributors compelling the farmers to take nano urea.
Payal MLA Manjinder Singh Giaspura demanded immediate measures to provide safety kits to temporary employees of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and adequate compensation for their relatives in case the workers meet with an accident. The AAP legislator said that temporary employees were not being provided with safety kits by contractors through whom they were being engaged. Talwinder Sabo legislator Baljinder Kaur raised the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending by the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery.