Three killed, 40 injured in collision of buses in Punjab; CM announces relief

Three persons were killed and forty others injured, nine of them seriously, in a collision between two buses on the Moga-Amritsar road in this district of Punjab on Friday, police said.

Those killed and injured were travelling in a minibus which was on its from Zira town to Chandigarh carrying supporters of Congress who were to attend the installation ceremony of Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab Congress chief.

The minibus collided with a state-owned PEPSU roadways bus near Lohara village, police said.


Moga Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Hans said the deceased have been identified as Virsa Singh, Vickey and Gurtej Singh.

The nine seriously injured were referred to a hospital in Ludhiana, police said.

Sidhu, along with ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkarai, visited Moga civil hospital and a private hospital and met some of the injured persons.

Later, he, along with the two ministers, visited the families of the deceased in Zira.

Sidhu assured the families of all possible help at this tragic hour.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he was saddened to learn about the bus accident. He announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased.

"Saddened to learn of the bus accident in Moga district in which 3 Congress workers have reportedly died & many persons are injured. Have directed DC Moga to immediately provide full medical treatment to all the injured and to send a report to the Government," he tweeted.

The chief minister directed the Moga district administration to immediately provide an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to those seriously injured in the incident.

Free treatment will be provided to all others who sustained minor injuries, he said in another tweet.

In Chandigarh, during the installation ceremony of Sidhu, the Punjab Congress observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to those killed in the accident.