Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh today issued a stern warning against any vandalisation of mobile towers and disruption of telecom services in the state, and directed police to take strict action against all those resorting to such unlawful activities.

Making it clear that he will not tolerate destruction of any private or public property in Punjab, the CM said he was forced to toughen his stance as his repeated appeals to perpetrators of such acts had been ignored.

The CM said he will not let Punjab get plunged into anarchy at any cost and that nobody would be allowed to take law into their hands.

Pointing out that his government had not objected to, or stopped, peaceful protests in the state against the Centre’s controversial farm laws for the past several months, Capt Amarinder said that any damage to property and inconvenience to citizens could not, however, be endured.

The CM’s warning came as the total number of mobile towers impacted in the state went up to 1561, of which 25 had been physically damaged allegedly by some farmers and their supporters in violation of the directions of the farmers unions to keep their protests against the Narendra Modi-led central government’s “anti-farmers” agriculture laws peaceful.

Calling upon farmers and their supporters to put an immediate stop to such destructive activities, which were being disowned by farmer leaders themselves, Capt Amarinder said the disruption of telecom services could lead to a communications blackout in the state, causing its people, especially students and working professionals, to suffer its serious consequences.

With examinations, especially the Board exams, nearing and students dependent on online education amid the Covid pandemic, such communication breakdown could seriously affect their future, the CM said.

He pointed out that his government has already distributed 1.75 lakh smartphones to class XII students to equip them for the Board exams, but the vandalisation of telecom properties in the state was hampering the students’ studies.

The CM further said that professionals working from home, with many of them having come to Punjab during the pandemic, could lose their jobs due to such acts of violence and damage to properties. Even banking services, which were also largely dependent on online transactions in these times of crisis, were taking a major hit due to these unlawful acts, he added.

The farmers’ agitation has so far been successful and has garnered the support of people from all sections of the society and across the country due to its peaceful nature, said Capt Amarinder, warning that the use of violence could alienate the protestors from the masses, which would be detrimental to the interests of the farming community.

Of the 1561 towers affected over the past few days, 146 were impacted since Monday morning due to disruption of power supply to 32 towers, which led to disconnection of services of the remaining 114.So far, 433 towers have been repaired, according to an official spokesperson.

The state has a total of 21306 mobile towers spread across its 22 districts.