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Punjab police fought Sunday against people who had blocked the railroad in Amritsar by demanding measures against the organizers of the Dusshera committee following the Friday crash that killed 61 people.
Protesters also asked the authorities to allow Dussehra's celebrations near the railroad tracks.
The angry residents had warned that they would not let any trains pass on the road if their requests were not satisfied. They also requested that the missing persons be found and that the families of those who died following a Jalandhar-Amritsar train were adequately compensated and traversed by a crowd burning Ravan's image.
The blockade forced the railways to cancel 27 trains since Saturday.
Two policemen, including a Punjab police commando, were injured after protesters threw stones at the police who were trying to clear the tracks to allow rail traffic to resume.
#WATCH Amritsar: Protesters are chased by police to Joda Phatak after throwing stones at them when they (the police) asked them to clear the railway line where they were sitting to protest #AmritsarTrainAccident. #Punjab pic.twitter.com/tAPkOB5fc2
– ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2018
Reinforcement led by Deputy Police Commissioner (DCP-City) Amrik Singh Pawar after the police attack and clearance of the way. The police also cordoned off the area of Dhobi Ghat and Jaura Fatak and publicly announced that no one should leave their homes near the railway.
In addition to canceling 27 trains, the railways also directed many other trains to Tarn Taran and Beas to continue their journey, while others were stopped in Jalandhar, railway officials said.
Earlier in the morning, the police announced that she hoped the demonstration would take place later in the day.
"We hope that the situation will return to normal in the region on Sunday night as the number of demonstrators has decreased since Saturday," said a senior police officer, according to PTI.
The situation was calm but tense before some of the protesters started throwing stones. About 500 demonstrators, mostly young men, had blocked the railway at the scene of the accident and brandished slogans against the administration and the railways. Stores near the Joda Phatak area remained closed.
"Two workers who lived in my area are still missing," Kamal, who lives near Joda Phatak, was quoted by PTI as saying.
Kamal feared that the death toll would be higher than the number indicated by the government.
The district administration reported that 40 of the dead had been identified while the process of identifying others was ongoing.
Another resident, Raju, said that a man was still searching for the body of his father, who died during the incident. "He had gone to get a piece of cloth to cover his father's body, but when he returned, he could not find the body," said Raju.
Another man was inconsolable. He could simply find the slippers of his brother Sonu. He wore the slippers at the police station and pleaded to help him find his brother.
Family members of the victims said that Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur, who was the main guest at the Dusshera ceremony on Friday night, did not even take worth the trouble to meet them despite their loss.
"These people (political leaders) only come for functions or to beg for votes. Nobody came to join us at our hour of need and grief, "said IANS, Pradeep Sharma, a resident of the area.
First published: Oct 21, 2018 12:40 PM IST
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