Bhog ceremony passes off peacefully

Bhog ceremony passes off peacefully
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Doomwali (Bathinda), July 27
To prevent any untoward incident today during the ‘bhog’ ceremony of Harmander Singh, who was killed in the recent Dera-Sikh clash at Dabwali, the Bathinda police remained on toes and established a number of check points on Bathinda—Dabwali road. With the high security arrangements, the day passed off almost peacefully.
Though all hardliner Sikh leaders had to assemble at the ceremony in Dabwali, the police maintained vigil on the Punjab-Haryana inter-state border and all deras of the Sacha Sauda in the district.
During a visit to the Doomwali barrier, the road leading to Dabwali was seen barricaded at several points.
Major ‘nakas’ were set up on the Bathinda bye pass, Sanagat bye pass, at the diversion point to the Guru Gobind Singh Refineries limited and the Dabwali bye pass.
Besides checkpoints, deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Faridkot Range, Jitendra Jain, and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bathinda, Ashish Chaudhary, personally inspected the security arrangements on the road.
Police officers deputed at the check points were observed to be more focused towards the movement of hardliner Sikh leaders, as their movement was completely scanned. Due to tension prevailing over the issue, vehicle-movement on the Bathinda-Dabwali road was very less.
While talking to a number of persons, it was observed that the tension hit the tax collection barrier as well as petrol pumps, dhabas and other business points existing on the road.
On the other hand, taking no chance with regard to security measures, all five deras of the sect, namely dera Salabatpura, the headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda in Punjab, Maur, Lehra Mohabbat, Kaile Bandar and one existing at Malout road, were cordoned off.
Due to a monthly religious discourse of the Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa was declared high alerted so most of the hard liner Sikh leaders proceeded to Dabwali via Bathinda.
Speaking over the issue, DIG of police Jitendra Jain said, “Though there was no call from any organization for protest in Bathinda, we tried our best to ensure fool-proof security arrangements in the district up to Haryana border.”