M A I N   N E W S

8 of Batala family die as roof caves in after rain
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Qadian (Gurdaspur), September 6
Eight members of a family were killed and one was seriously injured after the roof of their house caved in due to rains at Dhalla village on Qadian-Batala road on Saturday.

The incident occurred around 2 am when the entire family was sleeping, said officials. The deceased have been indentified as Mangal Singh (53), his wife Toshi (53), their sons Bikram (25) and Thomas (21), daughter Monika (19), grandson Arshdeep Singh (2) and granddaughters Anju (12) and Anchal (4). Bikram's wife Sarabjit Kaur (23) was injured. She is undergoing treatment at the Batala civil hospital.

Gurdaspur DC Dr Abhinav Trikha, who reached the spot with his team in the morning, announced Rs one lakh each as an ex-gratia grant to the next of kin of deceased. He said the district administration will bear the entire cost of Sarabjit’s treatment. The DC has asked the villagers living in kutcha houses to move to safer places. A villager said Mangal’s daughter Monika was supposed to get married on September 11.