Truckers block Ropar-Manali national highway

Kiratpur Sahib, October 16

A large number of truckers blocked the Ropar-Manali highway after the police arrested Nazar Singh, the elder brother of Kiratpur Sahib Truck Operators Society’s officiating president Balbir Singh here today. They alleged that the police had arrested the union leader to suppress their five-month-old agitation.

According to the police, Nazar Singh was arrested on a complaint from a trucker that he along with Balbir Singh and more than half a dozen other people attacked him and damaged his truck when he went to load the material from a dump at Kiratpur Sahib today.

The local truckers have been on an agitation for the past six months protesting against the loading of material from dumps set up by cement manufacturer of Himachal Pradesh. The firm hires trucks of HP truck unions which return after unloading their goods in Punjab.