Chandigarh: For the past few months, the administration, especially the Chandigarh Police, has been in the news for the music shows being performed by singers in Chandigarh. Recently, Diljit Dosanjh said on stage that there is no structure for performing shows in India, meaning there are no government guidelines. This year, after their show, the Satinder Sartaaj team had written a letter to the Chandigarh Police DGP and other high-ranking officials to the Chandigarh Administration, mentioning the misbehaviour meted out by the police but got no reply from the administration.
Similarly, after Karan Aujla’s show, the Chandigarh Administration imposed a fine of over Rs 1 crore on him for giving advertisements before getting the permit and permission. It is worth mentioning here that most departments keep waiting till the last day to issue the permits to blackmail to get free passes. It has been learnt from reliable sources that 5000 passes were demanded from Diljit Dosanjh. Even after getting the permit from the police, the local SHOs forced their own people to enter the she without tickets or passes.
The most difficult part of this work comes in Satinder Sartaaj's shows. His shows have seat numbers and the shows are well organised where families can sit and enjoy themselves in peace. Sometimes the people who are forcefully entered by the police sit on the seats of the people and it is not so easy to vacate the seats from them. Talking to Satinder Sartaaj's team, it was learnt that he will never do a Chandigarh show in the future and similar views have been expressed by Karan Aujla and Diljit Dosanjh teams.
It is worth mentioning here that Mayors and Venues of cities abroad request Punjabi singers to perform in their cities because the show generates tax for the city or state, provides work for the local workers, and generates business for hotels, restaurants or other shopping malls in the city. Just for comparison, Chandigarh is expected to receive over Rs 2 crore in GST from Diljit Dosanjh's show alone. Last year, Satinder Sartaj paid Rs 3.80 crore in GST, citing Book My Show. Diljit Dosanjh criticized the administration from the stage because of this behaviour. Although Satinder Sartaj's team praised the DCs and SSPs of Punjab for their cooperative behaviour, most of the time there is no cooperation from the employees posted on the spot.
Satinder Sartaj has appealed to the Punjab government, especially Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, to create an environment where artists can arrange the show and perform peacefully. To facilitate this, a 'one-window' system should be created where only one application is given by the artist and the government itself takes cared of the rest. Remember, Satinder Sartaj is the singer of Punjab who brought the model of ticketed shows to Punjab, due to which families, especially women, can go and enjoy the concerts otherwise before this, Punjabi singing was heard only in weddings, fairs or kabaddi where the atmosphere was not cordial for women and children.