LUDHIANA: The Left democratic political parties have warned the Center that if it did not announce a political package for “Punjab in the near future they would be constrained to launch a morcha to force the government to concede the genuine demands Of Punjab. They have even decided to enroll volunteers for launching the proposed morcha throughout the state against the Central government. This was resolved in a seminar on the Punjab problem organized here by the CPL CPM. Janata Dal BSP Congress (S) and Shiromani Akali Dal (Kabul). These parties demanded in one voice that a political package for Punjab should be announced without further delay. Center-state relations should be reorganized on true federal basis and immediate steps should be taken for the economic development of the state.
The gathering decided to constitute an action committee to chalk out a program to be implemented in stages in the coming months. It shall seek the cooperation of all other like-minded parties and pro-Punjab and nationalistic forces in its implementation
In a resolution read out by district secretary of the CPM Rachhpal Singh expressed concern at the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and the increase in incidents of killings extortions and assaults on innocents. The gathering deplored the trend of migration from villages to towns and from within the state to other states.
All this was casting its shadow on the economic health of the state. A large number of industrialist’s have set up industries in other states as nobody wants to invest in a state a solution to whose problems has not been found during the past decade
In another resolution the gathering demanded the punishment to the guilty of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots screening of the administration to weed out pro-militant and corrupt officers setting up of agro based employment-generating industrial unit’s encouragement to big industries and establishment of a petro-chemical complex in Punjab.
Among the speakers at the seminar were former MLA Balwant Singh Mangat Ram Pasla Darshan Arora Nirmal Singh Gurbax Singh Aziz-urRehman Sarwan Singh Hawas Ratti Ram and Principal Sardul Singh (retd).
Article extracted from this publication >> June 26, 1992
