Karnataka: After girl’s death, students block Belagavi-Panjim National Highway

Belagavi: Thousands of students from many colleges blocked the Belagavi-Panjim National Highway-4A for several hours on Tuesday afternoon to protest against the death of a teenage engineering college girl student in a road accident in Belgavi on Monday.

Students from various engineering colleges gathered at the spot where Darshana Sanjay Chougule (19) met with accident. The students alleged that local authorities' negligence in completing road-widening works caused the accident. Darshana, who was riding a two-wheeler, came under the wheels of a truck at Majgaon Cross on the highway and died on the spot, while another girl riding pillion suffered head injuries.

The protesting students gathered at Majgaon Cross around 10 am and blocked the National Highway till 1 pm, demanding immediate completion of road widening works from Tilakwadi 3rd gate to Mache on the highway. The traffic jam ran for over 5 km on both sides.

On protesters' demand, the authorities banned the movement of all heavy vehicles on the stretch from 7 am to 9 am and from 4 pm to 7 pm every day. Additional police forces were deployed to bring the situation under control. After a long argument, the authorities managed to get the students to withdraw the agitation. Already 10 people have died in accidents on this stretch of road in the past one year.