Bharatpur, October 10 (Udaipur Kiran News). There was a ruckus at the Halaina toll plaza in the district on Friday evening when there was a clash between the employees of the toll company and local shopkeepers. When the toll employees who arrived to remove the encroachment tried to remove the temporary shops on the roadside, the traders started protesting. During this time there was an altercation between both the parties which turned into a fight.
Two shopkeepers were injured in the incident, one of whom suffered serious head injuries. Angry villagers also pelted stones at the toll employees. Police and administrative officials reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
Vishal Singh, Safety Manager of Amoli Toll Plaza, said that on the instructions of Bharatpur Collector, action was being taken to remove temporary encroachment from the side of Agra-Jaipur National Highway (NH-21). Toll employees were removing shops with the help of JCB machine near Halaina town. Meanwhile, some shopkeepers present there protested, due to which a clash broke out. Local businessman Ramkishan Saini told that today is the day of Karva Chauth. We were sitting at the shop when toll people arrived with JCB and started demolishing the shops. When we asked them to give us one hour’s time, they did not listen to us and started beating us with sticks.
Ramkishan’s son Ved Prakash suffered injuries on his nose, while businessman Padam Saini suffered serious injuries due to the stick being hit on his head. Padam Saini was first referred to Halina Hospital and later to RBM Hospital in Bharatpur when her condition deteriorated.
According to eyewitnesses, the policemen present at the spot also tried to stop the toll employees, but they continued the action of removing the encroachment. After some time, the crowd increased at the spot and angry villagers started pelting stones. Halaina police station officer Ramavatar Meena said that the action to remove encroachment on Jaipur-Agra highway was being done under administrative order. In view of the situation, shopkeepers and traders have been given 24 hours time to voluntarily remove the encroachment. After the incident, traffic on the highway was affected for some time. Police have deployed additional forces around the toll plaza so that such a situation does not arise again. At present the atmosphere is calm.
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/ Rohit