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Updated: October 21, 2018 at 15h21
Stonecutting by local residents near the Amritsar runway on Sunday 21 October 2018. (Photo Express by Sahil Walia)
Services on the railway at Jora Phatak, near Amritsar, resumed Sunday, 40 hours after the tragic accident that killed 59 people during the Dussehra celebrations.
"The first freight train started from Manawala to Amritsar at 2:16 pm," Northern Railways spokesman Deepak Kumar said. This train will be followed by postal / express trains, he said. The South American Commissioner for Security (Railways), Firozpur Division, Sudoudharkar, told PTI: "Railway services have resumed on the affected railway (Joda Phatak). A freight train was allowed to move on this lane. "
Earlier in the day, residents demonstrating near Jora Phatak blew stones and clashed with police after withdrawing from the railroad tracks. However, the group was dispersed when police pursued them in nearby Krishnanagar. Punjab police have been trying to remove protesters blocking the railroad track since Friday night when 59 protesters from Dussehra were shot down by fast trains coming from opposite directions while they saw a effigy Ravan be burned. Protesters waved slogans against the state government and asked Navjot Singh Sidhu to resign from his ministerial post. Sidhu's wife was present at the celebrations when the incident took place.
As soon as the police began firing the protesters, people resorted to skin-fishing. A Punjab police commando and a photojournalist were wounded in the clashes. The situation is tense on and around the site and a huge police deployment has been deployed to maintain public order, the police said.
Officials said that members of the Punjab police and the Punjab Rapid Action Force had been deployed alongside the police commandos of the state.
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