Bonfire from wood of razed houses in Jalandhar

JALANDHAR: Oustees of Latifpura and activists from various organisations on Friday used wooden shafts, doors and windows from the houses demolished recently to light a bonfire outside the house of Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora to register their protest against the demolitions on the occasion of Lohri.
They took out the wood from the rubble of their demolished houses and took it to the street outside Arora's residence in Ashok Vihar. However, the police stopped them by closing the gate on the street, where they lighted the bonfire and raised slogans against the Punjab government. They also burnt effigies of chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Jalandhar Improvement Trust chairman Jagtar Singh Sanghera.
The protesters also burnt pictures of Punjab ministers doing Bhangra. The protestors said that when the CM was celebrating Lohri, his government rendered Latifpura residents homeless in chilly winters, forcing them to live in the open.
The oustees added that they were firm on blocking national highway and railway track near Dhannowali railway crossing for four hours on January 16.