As the Amarinder Singh backed farmers’ protests severely backfires on Punjab and his government, Reliance Jio seemingly left with no hopes from the Punjab government has decided to move to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to ensure the safety of its properties from vandals.
Reliance has been under the target ever since the farmers’ protests broke out with a section of opposition leaders led Congress scion Rahul Gandhi accused the new laws of benefitting Mukesh Ambani as they collectively sought to mislead the nation. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh who was all too happy with the protests was put in a spot after Jio’s communication infrastructure started getting vandalised against which he issued a statement condemning the incidents.
Reliance Jio has now approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking the urgent intervention of government authorities in a bid to halt the destruction of towers and telecom infrastructure belonging to the company.
“Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), in a petition mentioned to be filed in Honourable Punjab and Haryana High Court today, has sought the urgent intervention of Government authorities to bring a complete stop to the illegal acts of vandalism by miscreants,” said Reliance Industries Limited in a statement.
Reliance has also alleged that that the acts of vandalism were instigated by “business rivals” which in the telecom industry happen to be Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel with the latter slamming the allegations and terming it “baseless”.
The company added, “These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees and caused damage and disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales and service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two states.”
Things have reached a tipping point in Punjab after Jio’s critical infrastructure came under attack by a group of vandals who were purportedly protesting against the farm laws. Earlier, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had urged the farmers to show restraint and had politely asked them to stop their buffoonery. Such appeals by the Chief Minister fell in deaf ears, as the vandalism continued unabated with the total number of telecom tower sites damaged stood at 1,411, sources told PTI. “Site managers are slapped and abused for trying to persuade protestors from damaging sites,” the news agency further reported.
In his letter to the farmers across the state, Amarinder Singh had urged them to display a sense of discipline while going about their anti-government demonstrations. “Pointing out that telecom connectivity had become even more critical for people amid the Covid pandemic, the chief minister urged the farmers to show the same discipline and sense of responsibility which they had been exercising during their protest at the Delhi border, which has completed one month, and also earlier during their agitation in the state,” a CMO statement read.
Captain Amarinder Singh, of course, is answerable to all those firms who are having their infrastructure vandalised across Punjab by a bunch of arsonists which the Chief Minister and his party seem to support, only because both seem to be baying for the blood of a common enemy in the Modi government. The general public of Punjab, meanwhile, is being highly inconvenienced as telecom services throughout the border state get disrupted.
Perhaps because Amarinder Singh failed to reign in the goons and take punitive actions against those who are destroying property, Reliance Jio has been compelled to move to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek protection.