Pall of gloom descends on Amritsar village after 8 die in HP road mishap

A pall of gloom descended on Ghanupur Kale, a locality in Chheharta, 7km west of Amritsar, after the bodies of six persons killed in an accident in Himachal Pradesh reached here.

Eight pilgrims from Amritsar were killed when the Toyota Innova they were travelling in skidded off the road and rolled down into a gorge on the Chandigarh-Manali national highway near Swarghat in Bilaspur district on Thursday night. They had gone to Manikaran, a famous Sikh shrine in Kullu district, for pilgrimage and were returning to Amritsar when the accident took place.

Nine people travelling in the SUV. While seven people died on the spot, two seriously injured were shifted to a Nalagarh hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries.

It was a black Holi for Satnam Singh as both his sons — Jasbir Singh, 28, and Gurpinder Singh, 30 — died in the accident. Gurpinder is survived by his wife and two children. Their cousin Kanwaljit Singh, 28, a resident of Rajasansi, who also died, was married just a month ago. Kanwaljit, 18, Davinder Singh, 32, Baljit Singh Babbu, 28, and Pardeep Singh, 28, also hailed from Ghanupur Kale locality.

Mandeep Singh, 28, of Boparai Kalan in Ajnala tehsil of Amritsar, was killed while his brother Sukhdeep Singh, 26, had a narrow escape and is undergoing treatment. In July last year, eight pilgrims, including four from Amritsar, died when they were on their way to Hemkunt Sahib in Uttarakhand.

VICTIMS WERE KILLED WHEN THE TOYOTA INNOVA THEY WERE TRAVELLING IN ROLLED DOWN INTO A GORGE

GOVT ANNOUNCES ₹2 LAKH EACH FOR VICTIMS’ KIN

Congress MLA from Amritsar (West) Raj Kumar Verka, who visited the families of the deceased on Saturday, said the Punjab government would give ₹2 lakh ex gratia to the families of eight pilgrims killed in a road accident.

He said the Himachal government has also announced ₹4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.

Former Akali minister Gulzar Singh Ranike also assured compensation from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to the families of the deceased.