Students block road, commuters pay

Ravi Chandel

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 24

Commuters were on the receiving end following a protest by students of Central University of Punjab (CUP) at the Bathinda-Mansa highway over the death of a fellow student due to alleged negligence of the authorities concerned on Tuesday.

The protesters blocked the road for around five hours due to which the traffic had to be diverted to alternative routes.

Although, the protesters were giving way to ambulances and patients being ferried in private vehicles, the rest of the public had to suffer.

Due to the protest, some commuters lost their patience and started arguing with students.

Seeing the circumstances, the police personnel, who were present at the protest venue, intimated the senior traffic police authorities.

Due to the road blockade, which began at 10 am and was lifted in the evening at 3 pm, traffic snarls were witnessed not only on the main road but also on the link roads.

Harmeet Singh, a resident of Pratap Nagar, said, “Protesters should think of the public before blocking the road and harassing them. Their demands were genuine and we also support them, but what would happen by blocking the road.”

Maninder Kaur, a commuter, said, “Although it is a very sad incident and we are in favour of the students, thousands of commuters who travel on this road should not pay the price of the tussle between the students and university authorities. There were many people who were inconvenienced.”

SP (H) Surender Pal said, “After getting information from the police personnel present at the protest venue, we put barricades at Phus Mandi to divert the traffic coming from Bathinda and on the Jassi Chowk to divert the traffic coming from Mansa.”