1 killed, another hurt as jeep falls into canal

GURDASPUR: One person was killed and another injured as a Bolero jeep carrying cheese to Jalandhar, fell into the Upper Bari Doab Canal at Tughalwal, 25km from here, under the Kahnuwan police station around 6 am here on Sunday.

The deceased, Ramesh Kumar, 42, was a resident of Jahangir village of Amritsar, who worked at a cheese manufacturing factory near Batala.

The driver of the jeep, Makhan Singh, who was injured, is a resident of Batala.

A police team, led by Tughalwal police post in-charge, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Major Singh, with the help of villagers managed to take out the jeep, the deceased and the injured from the canal. Kahnuwan station house officer (SHO) Surinderpal Singh said a case under section 174 of the CrPc has been registered.

Driver Makhan Singh said the steering of the jeep developed a snag during due to which it fell into the canal. It was found that the railing at the bridge of the canal at Tughalwa has been broken for a long time.

Gurdaspur PWD (B and R) executive engineer Harjot Singh said his office had brought the issue of broken railing to the government’s notice.

“But, I did not receive funds to install a new railing,” Singh said.

“I will get the new railing installed at the aforesaid bridge shortly,” he added.