Chandigarh, March 30 (IANS) After the assurance by Punjab Revenue Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa, revenue employees on Wednesday called off their statewide strike and assured the minister to resume their work.
At a meeting with the Punjab Revenue Officers Association here, the minister assured representatives of the association that all their demands will be considered sympathetically, while asking them to immediately join their offices in larger public interest.
Jimpa said the state government has been committed for the welfare of the employees and their demands will be taken up with the Chief Minister to resolve them.
The employees went on strike to protest against keeping a naib tehsildar and a few patwaris in captivity in Lambi sub-tehsil office for nearly eight hours by farmers belonging to the Bharti Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan.
In a statement here, he said the worst has started coming true as the Taliban have started showing their true colours by way of complete intolerance towards the minorities leading to their intimidation and destruction of their religious places.
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other leaders met the family of deceased farmer Lovepreet at the Chaukhada farm in Palia at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. They later met the family of journalist Raman Kashyap, who was also killed in violence.
9 persons, including four farmers, were killed in the violence that had erupted during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will hear the matter on Thursday. The matter has been listed as 'violence in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) leading to loss of life'.
Canadian MP Tim S. Uppal said he was shocked to learn about the brazen attack on protesting farmers. Another Canadian MP Ruby Sahota said she was heartbroken to learn about the violence directed at protesting farmers.
The demand made by citizens primarily mirrored their right to clean air and the right to breathe, underlining the reality that Punjab is home to some of India's most polluted towns, including Mandi Gobindgarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, and Patiala.
The case was assigned to the division bench of Justices A.G. Masih and Ashok Kumar Verma. Earlier, the case was being heard by the bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Ajay Tewari but the latter recused himself from hearing the case on September 1.
