AAP trying to muzzle voice of media in Punjab: Sukhbir Badal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 May, 2023 10:13 AM
Chandigarh, May 26 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Friday accused the AAP government in Punjab of trying to muzzle the voice of media ever since it assumed power.
"The government has registered false cases against journalists besides banning web channels and even stopping advertisements to publications which refused to relay its propaganda," he said.
"It has also proceeded against artists, academicians and intellectuals. The SAD will do its utmost to guard the freedom of the press and democratic values and warns the AAP government not to trample upon civil rights in this manner."
Reacting to summoning of Managing Editor of the Ajit newspaper, Barjinder Singh Hamdard, Badal said the act of summoning of Hamdard by the state Vigilance Bureau was a "brazen act of a power drunk Chief Minister who wanted to exact revenge against the him for his principled stand on freedom of the press".
In a statement here, the SAD President expressed solidarity with Hamdard and said the Akali Dal would do its utmost to defend the voice of the media in Punjab.
Asserting that the intimidation of Hamdard had shocked Punjabis worldwide, Badal said the Chief Minister first stopped advertisements to the Ajit newspaper. "Then it started intimidating functionaries of the Ajit and now it has stooped down to persecuting its Managing Director. This is the height of vendetta politics and is totally unacceptable in a democracy."
During the meeting, the Chief Minister expressed the concern of the state over the proposed water cess on hydropower plants being implemented by the Himachal Pradesh government. Mann said the water cess should not be implemented as it is against the interests of the state.
The police had earlier arrested K. Harish and J. Malathy, who were also directors of the company. Five more people are still at large in the multi-crore cheating case carried out by the company in the state.
Two Covid-19-related deaths have also been reported in the same time span. The positivity rate of the city has risen to 13.79 per cent. The number of active cases stands at 806 out of which 452 patients are being treated in home isolation.
Lakhimpur Kheri Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Santosh Gupta, said that one staff member was also found Covid-positive during a contact tracing exercise on Sunday after which the entire campus has been turned into a quarantine centre by the Health department. This is the highest number of new Covid cases reported in a district in a day this year.
During thorough search of the area on Monday, BSF troops recovered six packets, containing 6.27 kg heroin, inside a bag lying in the fields near the village. A motorcycle was also found nearby.
According to the police, a 67-year-old man had filed a complaint with the cyber police station in Shahdara district wherein he alleged that on March 18, he had received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number in which a girl was performing some obscene act.
