Highway opens after 3 days

Even as the Allahabad-Lucknow highway opened for traffic after three days today, at least 50 charred vehicles littered along its stretch was a grim reminder of the violence unleashed by BSP supporters over the death of their MLA Raju Pal.

The protestors had mostly targeted police vehicles and state buses. ‘‘The buses were stopped at gun-point by a mob of 1,000-odd BSP activists carrying torches. They asked the passengers to come out and set the vehicles on fire. This was done to at least 20 state buses since January 26 evening,’’ says Om Prakash, a resident of Nawabganj, which is 30 km from Allahabad city. The vehicles of two TV channels were also attacked here.

‘‘At least 1,000 stranded passengers had taken refuge in Nawabganj. There were 200 people at my house alone,’’ says Rati Ram.

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The rioters had damaged the local police station as well. Officials from Charbagh depot were seen towing away two burnt buses from Nawabganj.

IG (Allahabad Zone) A.C. Sharma says such rioting was expected. ‘‘Even educational institutions of the city were shut since yesterday and shops had not opened their shutters. It was but natural that the mob attacked police vehicles… many of them have been burnt. Luckily, there were no casualties,’’ he says.