Students protesting against bus operators lathicharged,9 held

The Moga police lathicharged a group of students who were protesting against bus operators on Tuesday.

The Moga police lathicharged a group of students who were protesting against bus operators on Tuesday. The students had blocked the national highway and when some senior police officers tried to convince them to lift the dharna,students started pelting stones and bricks at the cops. The police have booked 11 students,arrested nine and slapped attempt to murder charges against many of them. The police claim four of their men were injured in the clash.

Meanwhile,the stand off between students,most belonging to the ITI,Moga and bus operators has been going on for quite some time. Moga SSP Snehdeep Sharma said,These students claim the bus operators do not allow them to board buses,while the operators claim they do not buy tickets and insist on sitting while those passengers who have bought the tickets are forced to stand.

Another police officer said,Last week,some students beat up a bus conductor and the operators demanded their arrest.

In protest,the students blocked the national highway today. They sat on dharna at nearly 9 am. The clash took place about an hour-and-a-half later. The students are now demanding that the state government announce free travel for students in both private and government-owned buses.

DSP Pargat Singh said,SP(D) Lashkar Singh was talking to the student leader but they started pelting stones and bricks at the police. We were left with no option but to use force. These students were causing a lot of inconvenience to the general public by blocking the highway. We were trying to urge them to lift the dharna and allow traffic to pass. But they were not ready to listen and suddenly turned violent.

The police have arrested Gurmohan Singh,leader of the protesters.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
protest