E-Paper
Commuters suffer as PTIs lay siege to Airport Road in Mohali
Protesting PTIs blocked Airport Road from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm, bringing vehicles to a halt on the traffic lifeline that was especially busy due to Diwali rush
The physical training instructors (PTI), protesting for government jobs for the past 18 days in Mohali, blocked traffic on Airport Road near Sohana for around three hours for the second consecutive Sunday.
Similar to last Sunday, the protesters, accompanied by farmers’ unions supporting them, laid siege to the road from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm, bringing vehicles to a halt on the traffic lifeline that was especially busy due to Diwali rush.
As queues of vehicles grew, senior police officials, including deputy superintendent of police (City-2) Harsimran Singh Bal requested the protesters to clear the road.
But the PTIs and farmers refused to budge, prompting the police to summon the anti-riot police. In the ensuing melee, around 30 protesters, including females, were detained as a preventive measure.
“The protesters were taken to the Sohana police station to allow the traffic movement to resume. They were released in the evening,” said DSP Bal.
Even last week, the protesters had blocked the same road for seven hours, but had ended their protest after senior police officials assured them of a meeting with a panel, including the education minister and senior officials of the state education department, in Chandigarh on October 29.
“It as mere eyewash, as the meeting was cancelled the very next day. The government is not fulfilling its poll promises made to us. So, we blocked the road again on Sunday,” said Rajpal, a PTI.
A member of the Krantikari Kissan Union, Punjab, said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal last year had assured these PTIs that they will be given government jobs as soon as AAP came to power in Punjab, but the promise was not fulfilled.
The PTIs have been protesting since October 5, when two female PTIs had climbed a water tank near Singh Shaheedan Gurdwara in Sohana.
In the absence of stairs, the teachers, Sippy Sharma and Veerpal Kaur, had scaled the water tank, risking their lives. Veerpal was hospitalised on Tuesday after falling sick, following which another female protester, Sukhraj Kaur, scaled the water tank next evening, even when police were present on the spot.
