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Bandh paralyses life in Punjab

- PHOTO: PTI

Stranded: Foreigners stranded at the Amritsar railway station on Tuesday because of the Punjab bandh called by radical Sikh organisations to protest alleged inaction against 1984 riot accused.

CHANDIGARH: Normal life was paralysed and rail and road traffic disrupted in many parts of Punjab following a day-long bandh called by radical Sikh groups to protest alleged inaction against 1984 riots accused.

The bandh was peaceful, except for a minor clash at Arya Mohalla in Ludhiana where two groups of people raised slogans against each other.

Pro and anti-slogans led to stone-throwing before police dispersed them by force.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal later said the bandh was an outcome of the people’s resentment against Centre’s apathy towards the victims of 1984 Sikh riots, who had been denied justice even after 25 years.

A good number of trains were either cancelled or short terminated following blockades at various places, including between Rajpura and Shambu on the mainline Ambala-Ludhiana section and at Manawala near Amritsar.

A senior divisional officer at Ambala told PTI that over 10 trains were either detained or terminated or cancelled in the division.

Services on the Ambala-Kalka and Ambala- Saharanpur routes were, however, normal.

A few trains from Amritsar, Ferozepur and Ludhiana were also cancelled leaving passengers stranded. Disruption of road traffic added to their misery, police said.

The trains detained or cancelled at Ambala included the Amritsar-Hardwar Jan Shatabdi, Amritsar-New Delhi Express, New Delhi Amritsar Swarn Shatabdi, Howrah-Amritsar Express and New Delhi Amritsar Shan-e-Punjab.

Except for a few buses run by the Punjab Roadways on the main state and national highways, public transport was seriously affected as private buses remained off the road in several areas of the State.

Bandh supporters blocked roads in Chandigarh, where the traffic was already disrupted due to security arrangements for the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was here to attend convocations in the PGI and the Panjab University.

Shops, commercial establishments and private banks remained closed at several places including Gurdaspur, Ropar, Kapurthala, Moga Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar.

In Jalandhar, bandh was complete and the city wore a deserted look.

A group of protesters gathered in front of the District Administrative Complex and PAP Chowk and submitted a memorandum to the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner demanding action against the accused of 1984 anti-Sik riots.

The activists of Dal Khalsa did not allow any Punjab Roadways bus to move out from the main bus stand in Amritsar.Activists also sat on railway tracks at Rajpura railway station blocking services. - PTI

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