Punjab CM Amarinder Singh denies changes in government policy on use of red beacons

Punjab Chief Minister on Tuesday refused any changes in the government’s policy on use of red-beacons on vehicles of CM and ministers.

The clarification came after the Transport Department “erroneously” put out an extract from the Congress’s poll manifesto, exempting the CM and council of ministers from using beacons, as a notification.

“The Transport Department had erroneously put out a part of the poll manifesto as notification and the social media picked it up,” an official spokesperson said quoting Amarinder.

The purported notification was later withdrawn, even as the Chief Minister directed the Chief Secretary to have the correct order sent to him for immediate approval and issuance, he said.

There has been no order yet on the issue of red-beacons, said the spokesperson, adding a notification is expected to be issued after the Chief Minister’s directives.

Also read: Red beacons removed from CM Amarinder Singh, other ministers' vehicles in Punjab

The manifesto of the Punjab Congress had exempted the Chief Minister and ministers from the proposed ban on red-beacons on their vehicles, he said.

But Amarinder and his ministers had voluntarily decided to give up the use of beacons in the first meeting of the cabinet, which ratified the poll promise into a policy decision, the spokesperson said.

He pointed out that the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues had themselves got the red-beacons removed from their vehicles within hours of the cabinet decision.

The cabinet had decided that only vehicles of the Chief Justice, Judges of the Punjab High Court and the Haryana High Court, fire brigades, vehicles engaged in emergency services and ambulances, will be allowed to use beacons.

Also read: Punjab CM Amarinder Singh asks MLAs and ministers to not make removal of beacons 'an issue of prestige'

Describing red-beacons as the most visible symbol of VIP culture in the state, the spokesperson said the government was fully committed to end this culture and there was no change in its stand.

He pointed out that Amarinder had been personally appealing to all political leaders, Congress MLAs and others to cooperate in the move to shed VIP frills in the larger interest of the state and its democratic polity.