Hoshairpur (Punjab): In a tragic accident in Punjab's, four personnel of the Punjab Police including a woman cop died after the bus carrying them rammed into a parked lorry in Mukeria area of Hoshiarpur district of the state on Wednesday morning, police sources said. Mukeria Police Station in charge, Joginder Singh said that the mishap took place at around 6 am on Wednesday morning. It is learnt that the cops, believed to be 15-20 in number were on way to Gurdaspur from Jalandhar for deployment duty when the bus rammed into a parked lorry at Mukeria.
In the road accident, four police personnel including a woman were killed while several other police personnel sustained serious injuries and are undergoing treatment at the hospital, an official said. Pathankot ASI Kulwinder Singh said that an ASI was also among the dead in the accident. The policemen present in the bus said that the accident took place at around 6:10 in the morning. “We were going from Jalandhar to Gurdaspur for duty,” a cop said.
ASI Jatinder Singh said that many cops were sleeping in the bus at the time of the accident. He said that around 10 police personnel are injured, while 4 deaths have occurred in the horrific road accident. The cause of the road accident was not immediately known at the time this report was filed. It was not clear whether the driver of the police bus was overspeeding or there was any other reason behind the accident.
Meanwhile Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday expressed deep grief over the death of the police personnel in the road accident and announced financial assistance of Rs 2 crore to the bereaved families. In a statement issued here, the Chief Minister said that the loss of life of police personnel in the road accident was unfortunate and it was a great loss for the state and the families of the victims.
He said that out of this assistance amount, one crore rupees will be given by the state government as ex-gratia, while the insurance payment of one crore rupees will be paid by HDFC bank. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the financial assistance to the families of police personnel is in line with the state government's commitment to ensure the welfare of soldiers (armed forces, paramilitary forces and police personnel) and their families.
