| Even after losing six precious lives on Sunday, volunteers of social and religious organisations continued serving sweetened water and other eatables by stopping public and private vehicles on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road later in the day also. |
Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 1
At least six persons were killed and seven others injured seriously when a tempo crushed them while they were serving sweetened water to passersby at a chhabeel organised by residents of Sayan village on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road, near here, today.
The Dehlon police has booked Rajinder Singh of Ucha Jattana village, driver of the tempo, under Sections 304, 279, 337, 338 and 427,IPC, in this connection.
Shingara Singh (45), Gurdeep Singh (40), Gopi (12), Manpreet, Kamaljit and Dalwinder Singh (8) of Sayan village in Ludhiana district were those crushed to death.
Wooden logs had been placed on either side of the road to slow down the traffic. This might have proved irritating to the driver. A visit to the site showed that some vehicles, including a scooter, had been crushed badly, while utensils could be seen scattered on the roadside.
Jagdish Singh Garcha, former MLA of the constituency, who was present at the spot, said the casualties could have been much more had the passersby not shifted the injured to a private hospital in Ludhiana.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Chief Minister has announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each dead in the accident.
