Danga Peerat Welfare Society demands deleted Red Cards be restored immediately

(Surjit Singh says if govt does not restore the cards, members would be forced to go in for self immolaton)

Chandigarh, August 9 – The Danga Peerat Welfare Society today said the Congress government was withdrawing facilities being extended to 1984 genocide victims instead of extending help to them and announced that Society members would be forced to go in for self immolation in case the government did not take back its decision to delete 135 Red Cards issued to them.

Addressing a press conference here, Danga Peerat Society President Surjit Singh said the government had unfairly deleted Red Cards issued to genocide victims. “This has been done at the instance of the Congress high command which continues to do everything in its will to repress the victims of the 1984 massacre. The Congress high command is helped by stooges like Food and Civil Supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu who is pressurizing officers to discriminate against the genocide victims. Unfortunately senior officers have also become an extension service of the Congress party and are taking anti-people decisions like deleting Red Cards issued to victims who fled Delhi and settled down in Punjab post 1984”.

Mr Surjit Singh demanded the Congress government immediately withdraw its decision to delete Red Cards of genuine beneficiaries. “Many of the Red Card holders are widows and handicaps and they are not in a position to return the benefits given to them including housing facility and Rs two lakh grant. We are giving the government a one month ultimatum to withdraw its decision failing which our members will be forced to indulge in self immolation. Five of our women members have decided to take this extreme step and the first immolation

would be conducted in front of the chief minister’s farm house near Chandigarh after one month”.

The Danga Peerat Society also paraded many of its members whose Red Cards have been deleted. Mr Surjit Singh said the cards had been made after due verification. “Details like submission of the original address of the beneficiary as well as his residence in Punjab were taken before the cards were made. However after thirty years the government started a verification process by sending teams to States from where the victims came to Punjab leading to undue harassment and eventual deletion of a large number of cards”. Mr Surjit Singh also condemned the short notice given to victim families to prove their bonafides. He said this was reflective of the anti-Sikh attitude of the Congress government which wanted to do away with all facilities given to victim families instead of increasing them which was the need of the day.

The Society demanded that the decision of the Committee which had deleted the Red Cards of 135 beneficiaries be revoked. Simultaneously it demanded formation of a fresh committee along with representatives of the Society to ensure no victims who had been uprooted thirty seven years ago were uprooted again during the Congress dispensation. It resolved to fight the case of the aggrieved families till the very end.

Those who spoke on the occasion included Gurdeep Kaur President , Rani Dhaliwal,Daljit Singh,Inderpal Singh,Dharminder Singh, Varinder Singh, Mukhvinder Singh, Charanjit Singh, Surjit Singh, Bhupinder Kaur Widow, Harjeet Kaur,Amarjit Kaur, Harbans Kaur Widow, Ranjit Kaur, Bhupinder Singh, Balbir Kaur and Surinder Singh