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Bathinda accident victims’ kin seek 10-lakh aid, govt job

By, Bathinda
Dec 29, 2024 05:58 AM IST

Backed by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), the aggrieved families said that the last rites would be performed until the Punjab government announces a compensation of ₹10 lakh and a government job to a family member.

A day after the mishap in which eight people were killed in Bathinda district after a bus fell into a drain, the family members of five deceased refused to get the postmortem examination done by the health authorities on Saturday.

The families of Bathinda road accident victims stage a protest at Talwandi Sabo civil hospital demanding compensation on Saturday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)
The families of Bathinda road accident victims stage a protest at Talwandi Sabo civil hospital demanding compensation on Saturday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

Backed by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), the aggrieved families said that the last rites would be performed until the Punjab government announces a compensation of 10 lakh and a government job to a family member.

The affected families and the activists of the farm union announced the formation of a joint action committee lamenting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s “failure” to announce compensation to those who died and were injured in the accident even after 24 hours of the accident.

They staged a dharna outside the civil hospital in Talwandi Sabo on Saturday.

Bathinda senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Gurmail Singh, said out of the eight persons killed on Friday, five were residents of Punjab from Bathinda, Mansa and Fazilka districts.

“Of the three bodies at Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh Civil Hospital, we conducted an autopsy of only two victims. Five bodies were in Talwandi Sabo, and the authorities could not perform postmortem examination of any of them due to the protest,” said the SMO.

Three deceased were from Jiwan Singhwala village where the accident took place. Two others were from Haryana, including physically disabled Mahinder Singh was from Sirsa, and Paramjeet Kaur was a resident of Fatehabad.

Another victim, Arjan Kumar, was a native of Bihar and his autopsy was not performed as the authorities were waiting till someone from his family contacted them.

As per a first information report (FIR) lodged at Talwandi Sabo police station, a speeding unidentified truck hit the bus of a private operator at Jiwan Singnhwala village after which the bus fell into the drain.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Devi Lal, a resident of Mansa Kalan village in Mansa district, who claimed to be an eyewitness of the accident. A case was lodged against an unknown driver under Sections 106 (rash act), 281 (rash driving) and various other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The complainant was travelling in his car when the fatal accident took place in the afternoon in which eight persons, including a two-year-old girl Puneet Kaur and her mother Amandeep Kaur, were killed.

Bus driver Balkar Singh was also killed.

The bus with 46 passengers was en route to Bathinda from Sardulgarh (in Mansa district). The accident occurred on the Talwandi Sabo-Bathinda stretch.

Mann announces ex gratia

Chandigarh : Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday expressed grief over the Bathinda accident in which eight people were killed and 26 injured. The CM also announced an ex gratia of 3 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. He said that district administration has already been directed to provide free treatment to all the injured.

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