Opposition slams AAP govt over blast at Patiala freight corridor rail track

The opposition parties in Punjab slammed the Bhagwant Mann government on Tuesday over the blast incident at Patiala freight corridor rail track, saying the government must wake up from slumber. Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's callous approach is pushing Punjab back into the old dark era, which is totally unacceptable. Mann, who is also the Home Minister, ''must come out of his deep slumber and take urgent steps to secure vital infrastructure,'' Badal said. He said that he strongly condemns the ''serious intelligence failure'' that led to the blast incident. ''It is clear that no preventive action was taken despite a specific threat being received days earlier. This comes after multiple blasts on police stations and posts, and even an RPG attack on the State Intelligence Headquarters,'' Badal said. Punjab BJP Working president Ashwani Sharma alleged that the Mann government does not have a grip on law and order, and nefarious elements were getting emboldened. Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said repeated blasts on railway tracks in Punjab -- first in Sirhind, now Patiala are not isolated incidents, they are a pattern. Bajwa said that from damaged freight corridors to injured loco pilots, serious security lapses are staring us in the face, yet the Mann government ''remains in denial''. Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also condemned the bomb blast incident, warning that these were dangerously ominous signs for Punjab. Warring blamed the Aam Aadmi Party government's ''incompetence'' for putting the hard-earned peace in Punjab at stake. ''While the AAP is busy in saving its own government, Punjab has been left to its own fate'', he said. ''Punjab cannot afford another dark era'', he warned. He noted that while a blast took place near Rajpura, which was aimed at blowing the railway track, two persons were shot dead in Batala, and a grenade was found in a busy Gurdaspur market, and all these incidents took place within a span of a few hours only last night. Warring said that the AAP government in Punjab was not only incompetent, but weak and insecure as well. He said, the AAP government, instead of keeping an eye on anti-social, anti-national elements, criminals and saboteurs, was spending its energies and resources to keep its flock together by keeping close watch on its own MLAs. A pro-Khalistan terror module, backed by Pakistan's ISI, carried out a late Monday night blast at a freight corridor railway track near the Shambhu area in Patiala, killing the suspect who was attempting to detonate the explosives, police said, adding that four members of the group have been arrested. The explosion, which occurred on the Shambhu-Ambala rail track, was initially described as a low-intensity blast. However, an investigation later determined it was an attempt to blow up the track, police stated. Senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia targeted the AAP government, alleging that Punjab is slipping into a dangerous state of insecurity. Referring to the blast on the Shambhu-Ambala railway track, Majithia said the incident raised serious concerns about public safety. He added that this came soon after another explosion in Sirhind, pointing to what he described as a worrying pattern. He alleged that under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the state has turned into a ''gangland''. Majithia claimed that since the AAP government assumed power, incidents such as attacks on police stations, killings of police personnel, and even an RPG attack on the intelligence headquarters have taken place. He said ordinary citizens no longer feel safe, while drug abuse continues to affect households across the state.

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