Trade union leader crushed to death as 2-day strike begins

A trade union leader, who was squatting along with a group of workers near the local bus depot as part of the two-day nationwide strike call, today died when he was hit by a bus in his bid to stop it from plying, a senior Roadways official said here. "The incident took place around 4 am this morning when Narender Singh, a bus driver by profession, tried to stop the vehicle which was being taken out from the Ambala Depot despite the strike," district president, Haryana Roadways Workers Union's, Inder Singh Bhadana told reporters here. Bhadana alleged that the district administration tried to forcibly ply the bus, which hit Singh, who was also the treasurer of a AITUC union, killing him on the spot. After the incident, the other workers resorted to violence damaging vehicles belonging to the Ambala's Deputy Commissioner of Police and SHO of the Baldev police station area, police said. Meanwhile, Bhadana demanded a case to be lodged against the General Manager of the Roadways, failing which they will not allow the body to be cremated. In view of the tense situation, heavy police force had been deployed at the bus depot and its surrounding areas. Earlier, however, AITUC General Secretary Gurudas Dasgupta told