Protest rally averted on Kharar highway

MOHALI: After being at the receiving end of a lot of stick from hassled highway travellers, Mohali police on Sunday averted a protest rally attempting to block traffic on the busy Chandigarh-Manali highway. Around 120 cops, armed with batons and riot shields, not only persuaded the protesters, about 70-odd contractual teachers seeking regularization from the state government, but also escorted them to a ground where they were allowed to air their grievances.
The last few months have seen many protests leading to blockade of the national highway resulting in a lot of disgruntled travellers, cursing the ineffectiveness of the district police.
But on Sunday, it was a different experience as nearly 70 cops had arrived at Khanpur Chowk, the venue of the rally, by 7 am. At about 11 am, another 50 were added to the deployment. As the contractual teachers reached the venue and started to assemble at 12:30 pm, cops blocked them off from the traffic. They tried to disrupt traffic twice but were thwarted. Superintendent of police (City-1) Sukhwant Singh Gill and deputy superintendent of police (Kharar) Raj Balwinder Singh Brar persuaded the agitators to stage a protest on a neighbouring ground.
A resident of Ludhiana on way to Chandigarh, Anshul Joshi, said the police controlled the agitation by not resorting to violence but through dialogues, which was a refreshing change. ?It?s a good thing that the police managed to control the crowd. Otherwise, from what I have heard, we would have been stuck in traffic jams till evening,? he added.
Meanwhile, lending a little colour to the place, around 30 brightly coloured and decorated rickshaws were engaged by the demonstrators.