Barnala Erupts as Police Lathi-Charge Sanitation Workers During Garbage Clearance Drive
BARNALA: Tension gripped Barnala city on Wednesday after the district administration, backed by a heavy police presence, launched a garbage clearance drive amid an ongoing strike by sanitation workers, triggering protests and a police lathi-charge that left several workers injured.
The administration pressed into service alternative arrangements to clear heaps of garbage that had accumulated across the city due to the strike. As officials began the collection drive, striking sanitation workers gathered at various locations to oppose the move, alleging that the administration was trying to break their agitation instead of addressing their long-pending demands.
The protest soon turned confrontational, following which the police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the demonstrators. Additional police personnel were deployed across sensitive areas to maintain law and order.
Sanitation workers raised slogans against the district administration and the Punjab Government, accusing the authorities of suppressing their democratic right to protest. They condemned the use of force and demanded action against officials responsible for the police crackdown.
The incident sparked sharp political reactions, with opposition parties accusing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of adopting an anti-worker stance.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring strongly condemned the police action, alleging that the AAP government was following a policy of double standards. He said the government, which had promised to stand with workers before coming to power, was now using police force to crush peaceful protests instead of resolving employees' grievances through dialogue.
Shiromani Akali Dal leaders also denounced the police action. Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal described the lathi-charge as "a brutal and unprovoked assault" on poor sanitation workers, particularly women.
"The brutal use of force against sanitation workers, especially women, in Barnala is absolutely condemnable. It was an unprovoked assault on poor people, and it is totally unacceptable," she said.
Harsimrat demanded immediate medical treatment for those injured in the lathi-charge, urgent negotiations with representatives of the sanitation workers, and the immediate acceptance of their long-pending legitimate demands.
Farmer organisations also condemned the use of force, warning that suppressing workers' movements through police action would only deepen public resentment. They urged the Punjab Government to resolve the dispute through meaningful negotiations rather than confrontation.
The Barnala incident has once again put the AAP government under fire over its handling of employee protests, with opposition parties accusing it of increasingly relying on police action instead of dialogue to resolve labour disputes.
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