Protesters place body on road, demand compensation

A series of protests took place here against yesterday's road accident in which six persons were crushed to death after a truck ploughed into them on NH1.
The first protest was led by Dalit leader Harbhajan Suman in which the family members and supporters of the deceased Vijay Kumar alias Kala (45), the auto-rickshaw driver of local Palahigate, took part. They placed Kala's body on Phagwara- Hoshiarpur road, squatted dharna and blocked traffic for half an hour, police here said.
They demanded immediate befitting relief for Kala's family and also threatened that they won't cremate the body unless suitable relief was announced on the spot.

But later, they lifted the blockade and cremated the body after positive assurance by local SDM Keshav Hingonia and SP Ashwani Kumar.
They also raised slogans against Punjab government. They attributed the accident and loss of six lives to the traffic mess and chaos that prevailed daily at the site which was a notorious traffic bottleneck in the city, police added.
The second protest, a dharna was held in front of Satnampura police station on Phagwara-Nakodar road for a short period of time.

Led by Saurav Khullar, a youth Congress leader, the protesters flayed traffic chaos in front of bus stand and demanded befitting relief to the victims. They lifted the dharna on the intervention of SHO Ramandeep Singh.

Meanwhile, two separate BSP deputations, led by Harbhajan Balalon and Jarnail Nangal, senior BSP leaders, met local SP Ashwani Kumar and submitted memorandum to him today.
They demanded streamlining of traffic in front of the bus stand and also apprised him of several traffic bottlenecks which required urgent regulation.
They also demanded befitting relief to the accident victims. Meanwhile, when contacted, local MLA Som Parkash Kainth today said that he had already taken up the matter with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Meanwhile, police have arrested the truck driver. Phagwara DSP Manpreet Singh Dhillon today identified him as Avtar Singh, a resident of Bhawanigarh in Patiala district.

Avtar Singh is also the owner of the truck he drives", said DSP.
Avtar said that the brakes of the truck had failed, resulting in the accident, the DSP said.
It may be mentioned here that six persons, including a woman, were crushed to death when the truck had ploughed into them.