Govt will abide by SC direction, says agri minister Chouhan

SC is scheduled to hear a plea seeking contempt action against state govt for not complying with directions to hospitalise Dallewal today

- HTC & PTI

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government on Wednesday continued with its efforts to persuade farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal to take medical aid, with former additional DGP Jaskaran Singh saying discussions in this regard were also held with farmer leaders.

Over the past few days, a state government team led by Jaskaran Singh has made several attempts to convince Dallewal, whose indefinite hunger strike completed 37 days on Wednesday, to take medical help, but so far he has refused.

The former police officer also held two meetings with the other farm leaders.

Earlier, the apex court gave the Punjab government time until December 31 to persuade Dallewal to shift to a hospital, granting the state the liberty to seek logistical support from the Centre, if necessary.

On Tuesday, a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and Sudhanshu Dhulia took note of a plea moved by the Punjab government seeking an additional three days to comply with SC's December 20 order.

The top court had posted the matter on January 2 for the compliance of its order on shifting Dallewal to a hospital.

The Punjab government had informed the vacation bench that Dallewal agreed to medical aid given the Centre accepted his proposal to hold talks.