Chandigarh, Aug 6 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday deputed a five-member party delegation to visit Madhya Pradesh to assist the Sikligar community, which is claiming harassment and victimisation by the MP police.

In a statement here, Badal said Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa will head the delegation which would meet members of the Sikligar community as well as police and civil administration to verify all the facts of the case and try to resolve the grievances of the community.

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Members of the Sikligar community claim that they have been ignored for decades and even implicated in criminal cases. More than 35,000 Sikligars live in Madhya Pradesh along the Narmada river.

They are finding it difficult to make ends meet because they were not given land grants or jobs due to which their economic condition is extremely poor, according to the statement.

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Badal said the SAD deputation would also take up the issue of rehabilitation of the Sikligar (traditionally ironsmith) community which was presently allegedly marginalised and even discriminated against by MP police forcing them to even leave their homes and take shelter in forests.

“We will pursue a package to bring them back into the national mainstream”, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)