E-Paper
Alleging misbehaviour by traffic police, PRTC employees block Patiala crossing
Protesters stopped buses in the middle of the road for at least one hour and decried the behaviour meted out to a driver
Alleging that traffic police personnel slapped and misbehaved with a bus driver, Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) employees stepped out in protest at the Patiala crossing in Zirakpur on Tuesday — resulting in a traffic blockade in the area.
Protesters stopped buses in the middle of the road for at least one hour and decried the behaviour meted out to driver Satish Chalak.
Traffic police officials, however, maintained that no one had been manhandled by the personnel and said the driver had been challaned for violating traffic rules — which, they said, led to the protest.
Sharing his version of the events leading up to the protest, Chalak said he was headed to Rajpura when the in-charge of the traffic police stopped him.
“He started abusing me. The cop pushed and slapped me”, he said, adding that he stopped the other buses on the route after the incident and the drivers joined the protest.
Protestors threatened that if the police do not take action by March 15, they will intensify the stir.
Speaking of the developments, Zirakpur traffic in-charge Rajpal Singh Gill said the bus driver was challaned for parking the bus in the middle of the road.
“The bus was stopped in the middle of the road due to which there was a traffic jam. When he was asked to step aside, he responded with abuse. On this, he was challaned according to the rules and he got angry. The bus drivers then stopped the buses in the middle of the road that led to traffic. To solve this problem, the traffic police have also brought barricades. The bus driver is making false allegations of slapping and ill-treatment,” he added.
Zirakpur police station house officer (SHO) inspector Deepinder Singh Brar also reached the spot and traffic was cleared after around an hour.
