BATHINDA: Sikh militants in Punjab now appear to have started an economic offensive on the Indian state by setting on fire cotton stocks worth about Rs 5 crore in Simultaneous actions at Mansa, Mukatsar and Gidderbaha in Bathinda, Mansa and Faridkot districts.
According to Udaipal Singh Gill, general manager of Punjab zone of the Cotton Corporation of India, the entire cotton belonged to the corporation and had been kept at the warehouses owned by the central and Punjab warehousing corporations. The loss is estimated to be of 8000 bales, But the commodity had been ensured and the ultimate looser is an India movement owned insurance company.
A team of reporters saw a score of firefighting brigades engaged in fighting fire at Gidderbaha where, in addition to cotton, loss also occurred of 4000 bags of wheat, 1675 bags of fertilizer and a few thousand bags of barley.
At Mansa there were three guards to take care of the warehouse but there were no armed guards to assist them. Two of the three militants were clean-shaven, according to an eyewitness. They sprinkled kerosene on the commodity before setting it on fire. Despite rainfall during the night and the efforts of fire brigades from Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala and Rampuraphul, the fire could not be controlled for several hours.
All the militants involved in the operation reportedly were in police uniform, At Gidderbaha the police came to know of the incident after two hours of its occurrence, At Mansa men of the local police the border security force and the army reached the spot with in action to the incidents from the State police or the chief minister.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 5, 1993
