Farmers block road, stage protest

Gundlupet: Three persons in a car were killed while a boy sustained serious injuries when the car in which they were travelling collided head-on with a tipper near Mallayyanapura Gate on National Highway-766 (NH-766) in the taluk yesterday afternoon.

The deceased have been identified as an employee of a private firm in Keralam, Mohammed Azeer (37), his sister Ayesha Noor (41) and her daughter Nuha Mubarak (18).

Ayesha’s nine-year-old son Nahiya Mubarak, who had sustained serious injuries, has been admitted to a private hospital in Mysuru.

Azeer, along with his sister and her children were proceeding to Mysuru from Keralam in a car when a speeding tipper vehicle which came in the opposite direction collided head-on with the car killing Ayesha and Nuha Mubarak on the spot and seriously injuring Azeer and Nahiya Mubarak. The injured were admitted to a private hospital in Mysuru, where Azeer succumbed to injuries.

Circle Inspector N. Jayakumar and staff, who reached the accident spot in Gundlupet, took tipper driver Baiju into custody and registered a case.

Meanwhile, members of the public, holding the Police, Mines and RTO officials responsible for the accident, expressed their anger on them.

Farmers and members of various farmer organisations blocked the National Highway and staged a protest.

The farmers, who are staging overnight protest since a week against the menace of speeding tipper vehicles among other issues, rushed to the spot on learning about the accident, blocked the road and staged a protest resulting in disruption of traffic on NH-766 for some time.

They said that though specific time has been given for the tipper vehicles to move on the road, the rule is not being followed and the authorities had turned a blind eye towards it which resulted in the accident.

The farmers then assembled in front of the Taluk Office and continued their overnight protest.

They have decided to stage a massive protest during Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s visit to the town on Apr. 21.