‘Where is the newspaper?’: Punjab residents fume as deliveries hit amid vehicle checks by police

The distribution of several newspapers was delayed in various parts of Punjab on Sunday due to intensive police checking of vehicles carrying the publications.

Reports from Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur indicated that police teams stopped newspaper vans and conducted thorough searches, citing suspicion that hawala money was being transported.

However, a senior Punjab Police official in Chandigarh clarified that there was no special order to check newspaper vehicles. “There may be random checkings in the field by local police based on some information but no directive targeting media distribution has been issued,” another official said.

In Ahmedgarh, people took to social media asking why newspapers have not been delivered. Mahavir Goyal, a resident, said no newspaper was delivered in Mandi Ahmedgarh till 9 am on Sunday.

This is probably the first time since terrorism days that newspaper circulation has been affected.

Reports from Amritsar, Faridkot and Muktsar also claiming newspapers not circulated.

In Patiala, newspaper vehicles carrying vernacular papers were checked thoroughly early morning “but later allowed to pass through”. However, in small towns of Samana and Patran, vendors claimed the supply was was hit and delayed as the police screened vehicles carrying papers.

Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi has condemned the police action against newspaper circulation, saying this showed that the Punjab Government was stooping too low to declare an “undeclared emergency in Punjab”.

“Such government action is undemocratic and against the principles of an elected government,” Gandhi told The Tribune.

Special DGP Arpit Shukla said the exercise to check newspaper vehicles was carried out based on inputs that these vehicles could be used to smuggle drugs, weapons or hawala money. “There is no attempt to stop the circulation of newspapers. The vehicles and the drivers were released after thorough checking. The remainder would be in the process."

Meanwhile, in a post on X, Pargat Singh, MLA from Jalandhar Cantt, wrote it was a direct attack on the freedom of press in Punjab.

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