Chandigarh, Oct 13 (IANS) Slamming the Centre for amending Section 139 of the BSF Act to give the border and guarding force wider jurisdiction and terming it tantamount to an attack on federalism, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa on Wednesday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to withdraw the decision.
Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) described the decision as Central rule in the state through the back door.
In a statement, Randhawa, who also holds the Home portfolio, said "this illogical decision was absolutely against the spirit of the raising the border guarding forces, which were required to focus on the international border and act as the first line of defence".
He said policing in the hinterland is not the role of a border guarding force, rather it would weaken the capacity of the Border Security Force (BSF) in discharging its primary duty of guarding the international border.
He said that he would personally call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister to resolve this issue.
Meanwhile, the SAD described the move to hand over almost half of the state to the BSF as "the imposition of the President's rule through the back door in nearly half of Punjab".
"This virtually turns the state into a de facto Union territory. This devious attempt to place the state directly under the Central rule must and will be opposed," senior Akali leader and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said in a statement.
He said this was at the same time, "a frontal assault on the federal principle through highly questionable misuse of constitutional provisions".
Cheema said it was shocking the BSF has been given sweeping powers divesting the state police of even the normal policing duties.
"As per the Constitution, only the state government can call out the Central forces to aid and assist the state administration. The Centre cannot thrust these forces on the state without a formal request from the state government," he said.
The Akali leader also called upon Chief Minister Charanjit Channi to come clean on the state government's stand on the sensitive issue.
The charge made by the BJP functionary comes a day after Kejriwal during his visit to poll-bound Goa on Tuesday, announced 80 per cent reservation in private sector jobs, Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 doles for the unemployed youth and families who have lost employment due to Covid respectively as well as setting up of a Skill university in the state.
Even as he reiterated his intention to counter any move to make Sidhu the state's Chief Minister face, Amarinder Singh said he will pit a strong candidate against him in the 2022 Assembly polls to ensure his defeat.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Goa have been engaged in a war of words and pre-poll announcements over the last few months ahead of the state Assembly polls, which are due in the coastal state in early 2022.
The stolen bicycles recovered were of nearly Rs 4 lakh. Deputy Superintendent of Police Charanjit Singh Virk said accused Neemkanta, who lives in suburban Kansal with his wife and son, used to visit parks in the early morning to steal the cycles.
"Pharmaceutical industry in Goa produces 12 per cent of the total medicine manufactured in India. Around 70 per cent of the product is exported to the most developed countries in the world," Sawant told a government function in Panaji organised to promote industrial trade in the state.
Even the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has directed all state governments and Union Territory administrations to use the word Scheduled Caste instead of Dalit for persons belonging to SCs.
