The highway is one of the most frequented in north India, especially for reaching the international airports at Delhi and Amritsar. The traffic was diverted through the villages nearby after the Patiala district administration swung into action to ease the situation.

“We ensured that there were no traffic jams and adequate personnel deployed,” said Rajpura SHO Bikramjeet Singh Brar.

The students, from nursing colleges in Patiala and Faridkot have been demanding recognition of their colleges by the state government, besides a stipend as per government norms. At present, the two colleges are affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot. “We had earlier sat on a hunger strike in Patiala, and some local politicians had promised to get the matter resolved, but nothing happened,” said Navkiran Kaur, who was leading the protest, adding that they would continue the dharna, “till the government did something concrete”.

The colleges were functioning as Schools of Nursing before being upgraded in 2002. However, the notification for their recognition is yet to be issued by the government. This acts as a blockade for issuance of stipend for students of the colleges. “Students are made to work for 48 hours a week without any stipend,” complained the students.