Former MLA Luv Kumar Goldy Condemns Attempt to Seize Youth After Complaint About Truck Danger in Daylight

Hoshiarpur /Daljeet Ajnoha/August 5— Former Congress MLA Luv Kumar Goldy has strongly condemned what he called a “rule-of-the-fist” incident in Garhshankar after a youth was allegedly threatened with forcible removal by the deputy speaker’s gunmen for asking that a tipper truck be stopped during daytime.

Goldy visited the home of local resident Harpreet Singh in Akalgarh village and said the Congress party will not tolerate such behaviour. He alleged that lawlessness is on the rise across Punjab, including Garhshankar, and cited a recent road accident at Garhshankar Banga Chowk in which a scooter rider died after being struck by a truck.

Goldy said Harpreet had gone to the deputy speaker’s residence in Rawdi and requested that tipper trucks be barred from operating in daylight, because they have caused many deaths. “In response, the deputy speaker allegedly sent his gunmen to seize and intimidate Harpreet at his home,” Goldy told reporters. Villagers, he added, prevented the gunmen from taking Harpreet away.

Goldy also claimed that, following the tragic accident, the village CCTV footage was taken — and that the DVR was subsequently seized by police from the village.

The former MLA accused local government officials, with police assistance, of trying to grab land in Garhshankar and of intimidating residents with false cases. “This kind of hooliganism has not been seen under any government,” he said, charging that in nearly five years the present administration has done little for development in Garhshankar. He contrasted that with the previous Congress government’s tenure, when he said irrigation tubewells, roads and city development works were sanctioned and crores in grants were released. “In almost five years they have done only one thing: turned Garhshankar into a police state,” Goldy said, adding that police officers should think twice before acting heavy-handedly because “three months remain, and you will be held accountable for every act of high-handedness.”

Goldy was accompanied during the visit by Sukhwinder Singh Sukhhu, Sunil Pandit of Badesron and former sarpanch Kashmir Singh of Chahalpur, among others.