Three deaths in seven days on Nabha’s Circular Road spark outrage

Three deaths in a week on Nabha’s Circular Road have sparked public outrage, with residents accusing the administration of ignoring repeated appeals to improve safety on the accident-prone stretch.Locals said they had been submitting applications for years, urging authorities to install safety measures on the 4-km-long road, but no action had been taken. To protest what they called ‘administrative apathy’, residents will hold a candle march on Sunday evening to mourn the victims and demand urgent intervention.

Members of a civil society group have also composed a song mourning those who lost their lives in recent accidents. The lyrics lament that the deaths could have been avoided and blame politicians and bureaucrats for their indifference. The group has called on residents to unite in grief and demand accountability.

A nine-year-old boy, a 19-year-old youth and a 30-year-old man were killed in three separate accidents last week. Several others have been injured recently. Earlier this week, ward no. 8 Councillor Ashok Kumar Garg was hurt in an accident on the same road. He blamed heavy encroachments for the rising number of crashes.

Dhir Singh, president of the Shiva Enclave Association, said, “Residents have been raising the issue for over two years. Even 300 locals signed an appeal and submitted it to the Nabha SDM in December last year, but nothing has changed.”

Advocate Reetiqbal Singh added, “The road has several intersections but not a single traffic light, speed breaker, or traffic police deployment. Encroachments on both sides leave no room to manoeuvre if someone needs to avoid a rash driver.”

He said the candle march would begin from Shahi Samadhan and end at the spot where nine-year-old Nehan was killed last week.

In the past three days, three more accidents have been reported on the stretch, though none proved fatal.

Meanwhile, Patiala SP (Traffic) Narinder Singh said he had ordered a survey of the road. Nabha SDM Ismat Vijay said the PWD Executive Engineer had been directed to identify infrastructure gaps contributing to the accidents.