BATHINDA: The first casualty of the unceremonious ouster of Capt Amarinder Singh as the Punjab chief minister is providing appointment letters to the kin of farmers who died during the ongoing protests against the contentious agriculture marketing laws.
Amarinder was to hand over the letters at a state-level function in Barnala on Monday. He was also going to lay the foundation stone of a multispecialty hospital at Barnala. The district administration had been on its toes for three days for the function. The foundation stone had been prepared for the hospital, but after Amarinder tendered the resignation on Saturday evening, construction and other activities were stalled as uncertainty loomed large on the programme. On Sunday morning, it was made known that the programme had been postponed and the new chief minister would take the call.
The state government had decided to provide jobs to the kin of deceased farmers, though there was uncertainty on the number of beneficiaries. It was learnt that appointment letters to around 200 beneficiaries were to be given in the first phase.
There is also uncertainty over the multi-specialty hospital as ex-MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon, who is considered close to Amarinder Singh, was behind the project and was projecting it as a big achievement to jump in the 2022 elections.
