CHANDIGARH: As an offshoot of the killing of former Punjab Finance Minister Balwant Singh and two senior SYL engineers here, the Punjab Governor ordered shifting of the Punjab Home Secretary R.S. Mann and Union Territory Inspector General of Police Gurcharan Singh Sandhu from their respective posts,
A.S. Chatha was made the new Punjab Home Secretary while Sandhu’s replacement has yet to be appointed by the Union Government. The Governor asked officers of Punjab and Chandigarh to do everything to ensure safety of SYL engineers and officers so that Haryana’s project inside the Punjab territory was completed as per schedule.
The Governor also stated that the question of holding election to the Punjab Assembly hinged on normalisation of the situation in the State “within 45 days”, otherwise, he hinted, the President’s rule in Punjab would continue by another Constitutional amendment with the Congress (I) help.
Apart from the Chandigarh engineers’ killings, the reason why Mann had to be shifted reportedly was the fact that his relations with Punjab DGP KPS Gill were far from cordial.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 3, 1990
