Title - MISHAP AT UNMANNED RAILWAY CROSSING A shattered village cremates its daughters

Amritsar : People of Gulla Nangal village are shattered. They burnt four pyres today: of the four girls who were killed in an accident at an unmanned railway crossing yesterday. Among the victims were two sisters, Sehajpreet (14) and Manavpreet (16). The other deceased were Komalpreet Kaur (12) and Palakpreet Kaur (9), all four of whom had died on the spot.Harpreet, the younger brother of Sehajpreet and Manavpreet, who was also injured in the accident and is admitted at the local civil hospital, keeps asking about his elder sisters but doctors have advised hospital staff against it. “We have not told him about the tragedy. The doctors have advised against it. They don’t want to give him a shock,” said an attendant.The world of Sukhdev Singh, the father of the three children, has crashed. He says he had objected to the school bus driver taking the path which had an unmanned crossing. He had even planned to meet the principal to bring the issue to his notice.An attendant at hospital said that Harpreet often inquires about his elder sisters. “We have not told him about the tragedy. The doctors have advised against it. They don’t want to give him a shock,” said the attendant.The trio’s unlucky father, Sukhdev Singh said, “Losing a child is the worst thing in this world and I have lost two of them.” He recalls that how he had objected to the driver using the path which had an unmanned railway crossing. He said that he had even planned meeting the school principal to bring the situation into his notice.Villagers and neighbours gathered to console the families. Many houses were locked as villagers gathered outside the homes of the victims.“No one from this village would ever forget this tragedy. Four pyres were burnt in one day,” a resident, Sulakhan Singh Fauzi said. He said the entire village is behind the families who lost their precious ones in the tragedy.Here sorrow is mixed with simmering anger over the dilapidated condition of the road from Rayya to Kot Mehtab, which is the reason behind the accident, say villagers. “Earlier the school bus used this road but as its condition became worse, the driver started using another route.”The driver of the school bus, Milkha Singh earlier accused of negligence was arrested by the police today. Dr Sandeep Aggarwal at Civil hospital said, “All the four injured students admitted here, including Harpreet, are out of danger.”