The families of people killed in a train accident during a Dasara celebration in Amritsar in 2018 staged a protest outside Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s residence in Amritsar demanding government jobs.
About 60 people were mowed down and 72 injured by a train that hurtled through the crowd which had spilled onto railway tracks while watching a Ravana effigy burn.
Mr. Sidhu’s wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, was the chief guest at the event held on October 19, 2018.
The protesters alleged that the Sidhus had failed to honour their promise of ensuring a government job for a family member of each victim.
They claimed that Mr. Sidhu had promised to adopt the families that had lost their earning member and to bear their monthly kitchen expenses. Besides, they claimed, he had promised free education for the next of kin of all victims.
The protesters, residents of Mr. Sidhu’s Amritsar East constituency, demanded to know the outcome of a magisterial inquiry. They also demanded that responsibility be fixed for it and the guilty be punished.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had ordered the inquiry into the incident. A 300-page report was submitted to the Punjab Home Secretary in November 2018.
The 30 families ended the demonstration after police officials informed them that the Congress leader and his wife were away.
