The opposition SAD on Tuesday took a swipe at the Congress-led government over holding of two-day 'Progressive Punjab Investors Summit' and alleged that there was a "total collapse" of law and order situation in the state and businessmen were receiving "threats".
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that an "atmosphere of fear" was prevailing in the state and gangsters were "ruling the roost".
"With the kind of situation prevailing, nobody is feeling safe in Punjab now. You (the government) are organising Invest Punjab (summit). What to talk of investment when an atmosphere of fear has been created in the state. I am surprised that Chief Minister Amarinder Singh does not care about it at all," Badal alleged while talking to reporters here.
"The Punjab Police is helpless and gangsters are ruling the roost. They are giving extortion threats to businessmen. You may ask any businessman and he will tell he has received extortion threats. The people of Punjab now no longer trust police," he further alleged.
The Punjab government is organising the 'Progressive Punjab Investors Summit' on December 5 and 6. The event will see participation from micro, small and medium enterprises of Punjab, apart from leading industrialists, new-age entrepreneurs, foreign missions and other dignitaries.
A SAD-BJP delegation on Tuesday met Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore and urged him to direct the chief minister to recommend the dismissal of Jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for allegedly allowing a "free rein" to gangsters in prison.
The SAD president told the governor that gangsters "seemed to have taken over the state" and even showed him videos of notorious gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria "celebrating his birthday in jail".
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He said the gangsters had become had openly threatened former SAD minister Bikram Majithia.
There had been repeated cases of gangsters eliminating their rivals while sitting in jails and even taking credit for the same as had happened in the case of killings of two criminals in Malerkotla and Malout recently, Badal said.
The delegation also briefed the governor about the "increasing" cases of gangster related crimes and said they were taking place due to the alleged patronage of the Jails minister.
It urged the governor to recommend a CBI inquiry into the alleged "gangsterminister nexus".
The delegation also urged the governor to send a report to the Union Home Ministry on the "total collapse of the law and order machinery" in Punjab.
The delegation was accompanied by the family of Akali leader Dalbir Singh Dhilwan who was murdered brutally on November 18 in Gurdaspur.
The family members alleged they were not getting justice in the case with the police yet to record their statement.