Friday, September 2 2005 13:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Gohana (Sonepat) : Angry mobs enforcing Haryana Bandh today (September 2, 2005) in protest against the burning of houses of Dalits two days ago, attacked three buses in Panchkula and blocked the national highway at several places in the state.

Meanwhile, situation here limped back to normal and there were reports of victims gradually returning to their homes, even as security was beefed up in the town in view of the bandh call by various organisations.

While schools and shops opened and banks and commercial establishments functioned normally, senior administration and police officials were camping in the town keeping a strict vigil, official sources said.

Safai karamcharis observed a strike and marched through the main bazaars of the town while protestors blocked the Sonepat-Purkhas road for an hour while police said it had dispatched teams to various villages to nab those responsible for Wednesday's (August 31, 2005) incident.

Two buses, one of Haryana State Roadways and the other belonging to Punjab Roadways, were partially damaged in Panckula on the outskirts of Chandigarh when some persons armed with hockey sticks and iron rods broke the window panes of two buses at Labour Chowk this morning (September 2, 2005).

Later, the tyres of another Haryana Roadways bus were set afire, official sources said adding that the mob also caused minor damage to two two-wheelers.

In Ambala, protestors demanding compensation for the victims whose houses were torched and dismissal of Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government, squatted on the National Highway forcing disruption of traffic, the sources said adding that situation was tense.

The protestors also demanded registration of criminal cases against the District Collector and Superintendent of Police, Sonepat, official sources said.

In Hansi town of Hisar district, several people blocked the Delhi-Hisar Highway. Shops and commercial establishments in Hansi remained closed as protestors staged demonstration.

Meanwhile police said it had intensified its campaign to apprehend all the persons, including the son and brother of Sonepat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Kishan Singh Sangwan, against whom a case under various sections of the IPC and Arms Act was registered in connection with the Gohana arsoning incident.

Special police teams have been sent to the concerned villages for conducting raids and arresting the 23 persons named in the FIR on the arsoning incident in Balmiki colony of Gohana.

Police patrolling had also been intensified in the town as a precautionary measure and the Balmiki colony, the scene of the mayhem, is being safeguarded by the armed police, the sources said.