The Punjab government will deploy an armed guard and closed-circuit television cameras to prevent miscreants from stealing the pistol from Shaheed Udham Singh’s statue in Rajpura Town.
The martyr’s replica pistol has gone missing for the third time in less than a year — presumably yet again stolen by local youngsters driven by the fabled Punjabi penchant for firearms.
Representatives of the Mohammad Singh Azad Foundation lamented that nothing had been done to protect the sculpture despite repeated requests to government functionaries.
Foundation president Karnail Singh said his organisation, which had installed the statue at the Rajpura Bus Stant in 2006 at a cost of Rs 250,000, had failed to prevent miscreants from removing the pistol despite hiring a watchman for the job.