Three women were killed and several others were injured after four separate bus accidents, all involving buses that were carrying farmer union members to Punjab's Khanauri and Haryana's Tohana for a ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ amid zero visibility due to fog on Saturday.
Farmer leaders said all accidents occurred between 9 am and 10 am on Saturday, with “hardly any visibility”.
In one incident, a bus with 52 members of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Ugrahan heading to Tohana Mahapanchayat hit the road divider and overturned at the Handiyaya bypass in Barnala district. Three women members died, and two men were critically injured in this accident.
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Shingara Singh Mann, president of BKU Ugrahan’s Bathinda branch, told the Indian Express that the injured were shifted to AIIMS Bathinda and the rest to Barnala Civil Hospital.
In another accident in Barnala, a truck carrying food grains hit a bus with 52 passengers. The report said all the passengers were from Dallewal, the village of the fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal.
{{/usCountry}}In another accident in Barnala, a truck carrying food grains hit a bus with 52 passengers. The report said all the passengers were from Dallewal, the village of the fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal.
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In Bathinda, a bus carrying 25 BKU Ugrahan members from Deonwala village collided. The injured were taken to Bathinda Civil Hospital, and others continued towards Tohana to attend the Mahapanchayat. Another bus from Faridkot's Matta village also met with an accident in Bathinda, injuring three people.
Dallewal's appeal
Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, whose indefinite hunger strike entered its 40th day, had appealed for large participation in the Mahapanchayat to strengthen the fight, seeking a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Dallewal (70) has refused to accept medical aid despite persuasion efforts from the Punjab government. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had said that a team of government doctors is regularly monitoring Dallewal's health.
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The farmers have accused the Centre of adopting a “stubborn” attitude. “Our demands pertain to the Centre, this issue is not of the courts. The (Narendra) Modi government should directly talk (to the protesting farmers),” said a farmer leader.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said that the Centre will act in accordance with the Supreme Court's instructions.
(With inputs from Karam Prakash)