Road blockade over Behbal Kalan sacrilege throws traffic out of gear

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, February 9

The blockade of the national highway, by various Sikh organisations, protesting against the state government for not delivering justice in sacrilege and police firing incidents of 2015, has thrown normal life out of gear in Kotkapura and Jaito for the past five days.

Long queues of vehicles were witnessed at both towns and other thoroughfares in the rural area. After the blockade of the 50m-long stretch of the Amritsar-Bathinda National Highway, near Behbal Kalan village, by the protesters since February 5, commuters have been forced to take a detour.

The diversion has added around 15 km to the total distance and the traffic on the single-lane detour route is causing much inconvenience to them because the road, already in a poor condition, is getting highly congested.

Police officials have been posted at different interlinking points on the road to avoid confusion among the commuters. “Other than giving detour routes to commuters, we are trying to prevail upon the protesters to end the blockade,” said Faridkot SSP Raj Pal Singh Sandhu.

“So, that there are no chances of any heated arguments between the protesters and the commuters, who object to the road blockade. We are not allowing vehicles near the dharna site by putting up nakas on the road,” said the SSP. The Kotkapura-Jaito road is being used to reach Bathinda, Mansa, Patiala and Dabwali. Residents of Jaito are on the receiving end since the detours are causing snarl-ups in the town.

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