Jalandhar, May 26
Hundreds of stranded passengers at Jalandhar city and cantonment railway stations got some relief as partial train services from Amritsar and Jammu to Delhi were restored on Tuesday evening.

The first train from Amritsar which reached here at 5.15 pm was Jai Nagar via Darbanga Flying Mail.

Announcement was made at the city railway station on the directions of Station Superintendent Ashok Kumar for those passengers who wanted to go to Jammu to reach Jalandhar cantonment railway station by boarding Flying Mail as two Jammu-bound trains from Delhi were reaching there around 5.30 pm.

Durgesh Sharma of Central Town, who had come to Jalandhar railway station to see off his brother-in-law Sudhir Sharma of Delhi, said his brother-in-law had been stranded since Sunday night.

He along with several passengers of a Delhi-bound bus narrowly escaped in an attack by protesters on Sunday night. They had taken shelter in the nearby Raga Motors building on the Jalandhar-Phagwara highway.

After the Flying Mail, Darbanga-bound Shaheed Express (4674), Bilaspur-bound Chattisgarh Express (8238), Howrah-bound Howrah Express (3050) and Howrah bound Howrah-Amritsar Express (3006) reached at the city railway station.

Meanwhile, Gobindgarh-based NGO Helpline provided langar and tea on Tuesday afternoon and evening to stranded passengers at the city railway station.

Jalandhar, May 26
While arsonists damaged government and public property worth crores over the past two days following the death of Sant Ramanand of Dera Sachkhand Ballan in Vienna (Austria), certain miscreants taking the benefit of the situation indulged in looting.

The miscreants also damaged property to settle scores with their rivals in Jalandhar, Phagwara, Adampur, Nakodar and certain other places in and around the city.

The miscreants ransacked hospitals, financial institutions, ATMs, showrooms of motor vehicles, goods stores, private buses and petrol stations.

The anti-social elements did not spare the liquor vends and looted over half a dozen English wine shops. After looting the miscreants set these vends ablaze.

They looted certain petrol stations at gun-point and putting swords on the temples of salesmen. Threatening the petrol station owners with setting their establishments on fire, the criminals even filled fuel in their vehicles free of cost.

Talking to The Tribune, Punjab Director-General of Police K.K. Attri claimed that certain criminals had mingled with the protesters to settle the score with their personal rivals. They took benefit of the situation.

The DGP expressed his inability to identity these troubleshooters in the mob. He claimed that the police forces had been authorised to take the necessary action against the miscreants to avoid any major tragedy.

The miscreants damaged a petrol station on Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road in Adampur last night and smashed the windowpanes of a number of vehicles parked there.

Filling station owner Monti Sehgal alleged that even after over 24 hours of the incident not even a single police personnel had been to the site despite repeated representations to the SSP.

Similarly, a petrol station near Kishanpura Chowk was also ransacked by the miscreants on Sunday night.

Nawanshahr, May 26
With a view to setting aside the rumours and weeding out the unscrupulous elements so that the tension and the apprehension of confrontation could be averted, the district administration held an all-party meeting here on Tuesday.

The representatives from different political and social organisations participated
in the meeting.

Deputy Commissioner Gurkirat Kirpal Singh and SSP Rakesh Aggarwal called upon the representatives of the political and social organisations to come forward to extend their support to the administration in curbing the violence and untoward incidents arising due to the unfortunate incident in Vienna (Austria) on Sunday so that peace and harmony could be restored.

Among others, Mohinder Singh Hussainpur, district SAD President, Kuldip Rana, district Congress President, Nachhatar Pal, district BSP President, Kamaljit, district BSM President, Sudesh Kumari, district BJP President, Dharam Pal Banger, former MC President, Rahon, Dinesh Chopra, President, MC, Rahon, Rajinder Chopra, President, MC, Nawanshahr, Chet Ram Rattan, MC, Sat Pal Sahlon, Chairman, Sri Guru Ravidass Trust, Chaman Singh Bhanmazara, former chairman, Market Committee, Daljit Singh Advocate, CPI-ML, Balbir Singh Jadla (CPM), Dr Paramjit Mann, general secretary, Indian Medical Association, and office-bearers of UPKAR expressed their solidarity with followers of Dera Sach Khand and stressed the need to weed out miscreants.

They pledged support to administration in maintaining peace and law and order.

It was unanimously decided at the meeting that the educational institutions and business establishments would be opened tomorrow to ensure normal life.

An all-party peace march would be taken out in the town on Wednesday to instill confidence among the general public.

The representatives of the different political, social and religious organisations would gather at the District Administrative Complex on Wednesday.

After paying tributes to Sant Ramanand, the peace march would pass through
the main bazaars.

Earlier, the district administration had to face a tough time in defusing a situation of confrontation at Rahon and Musapur village.

At Rahon, due to some rumours, the two communities had gathered in religious places and the situation remained tense for more than two hours.

At Musapur village, situation became tense when a youth was reportedly attacked.

SSP Rakesh Aggarwal and ADC Harminder Singh along with a police force reached there and defused the tension.

The followers of the Dera today took out a peaceful protest march in the town.

Though the shopkeepers opened their shops in the morning, the police patrol parties appealed to them to keep their shops closed.

He also demanded strict disciplinary action against those officers who failed to enforce curfew effectively in their respective districts.

Batala, May 26
The industrial town of Batala observed a compete bandh on the second day in protest against the killing of Sant Ramanand at Vienna.

Various contingents of motorcycles and scooters went around the town and requested the shopkeepers and businessmen to close their establishments.

Even the rickshaw-pullers and owners of fruit and vegetable rehris were not seen
on the road.

District Magistrate Neelkanth Avadh has ordered closure of the schools and colleges to avoid any untoward incident.

Reports said nearby towns like Fatehgarh Churian, Dera Baba Nanak, Naushehra Majha Singh and Dhariwal also observed a complete bandh.

The police personnesl were deployed in the town to avoid any mishap.

Pathankot: Markets and other business establishments functioned normally and residents attended to their work as usual here today as the call for bandh given by devotees of Dera Sach Khand received no response.

Meanwhile, the protesters took out a peaceful march at Shahpur Kandi and no untoward incident occurred in this subdivision, confirmed SP Harpreet Singh.