In a shocking event, a man in Punjab who is an ETT qualified teacher climbed a mobile phone tower near the MLA hostel in Sector 4 here on Saturday, 27th November. This has drawn the attention of many. The man named Sarwan Singh was first spotted by a dry cleaning worker in the hostel. The worker had called the police to inform them of the emergency situation.
According to the local police officials, the protesting teacher climbed atop the tower at 4A, in the morning. Locals and then fire officials had requested and pleaded with him to come down. Unfortunately, he did not pay heed to anyone. After the arrival of the police at the scene dramatic and dangerous scenes progressed. Charanjit Singh, DSP, central division, SHO, Sector 3 police, and other police barricaded the area and brought in fire tenders, an ambulance, and hydraulic ladders. All of their persuasion tactics failed to make the man climb down. When the man, Sarwan Singh, doused himself in petrol and threatened to set himself on fire by lighting a match, the cops started to back out.
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Prominent politicians like the leaders of SAD, led by namely, Bikram Majithia, Jagir Kaur, and Sukhbir Singh who were en route to the residence of the Chief Minister of Punjab, Charanjit Singh Channi, also appealed amongst others for Sarwan Singh to come down to safety. They also talked to Punjab Education Minister, Pargat Singh in hopes to resolve the matter.
Many sources have cited the slashing of the salaries of teachers as the reason for the protest by Sarwan Singh. The salaries of many teachers have been reduced to Rs. 25,000. Singh, who was recruited as an ETT teacher under the SAD administration, has claimed that his salary has been reduced from Rs. 65,000. He was not regularized even after sending letters to the state government. He said he would come down when the file is cleared by Monday. Later he was apprehended by the police and taken to the Sarangpur station fro where he was released three hours later.
