Punjab red beacon goof-up: Official transferred

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ordered the transfer of a transport department official responsible for an erroneous notification on the red beacon issue.

Talking to mediapersons at the state assembly on Wednesday, Amarinder made it clear that "there would be no change in his government's red beacon policy, as mandated in the Congress poll manifesto and ratified through a cabinet decision".

The Punjab government had to face embarrassment as a transport department notification, issued on Tuesday, exempted the chief minister and ministers from a decision to prohibit use of red beacons on government vehicles.

Amarinder said his government was fully committed to end the VIP culture in the state.

"There would be no further relaxation in the exemptions, barring those laid down by the cabinet," he said.

He said that he and his cabinet colleagues would not use the red beacons, which they had decided to voluntarily give up, even though the Congress manifesto had exempted them.

The Chief Minister categorically stated that he had directed the Chief Secretary to immediately shift out the officer responsible for Tuesday's goof-up.

Amarinder also ruled out any slowdown in the withdrawal or pruning of security to political leaders and officers, saying security was given based on threat perceptions.

He said that the Director General of Police has been directed to take necessary steps for implementing the security review decision in the interest of good policing and for the welfare of the police.

"With the withdrawal of police personnel and doing away with the prevalent system of deploying police personnel on VVIP routes, the surplus police personnel relieved from these superfluous duties would be available for posting in their respective police districts to strengthen public policing," he said.

--IANS

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