Ludhiana, Dec 5 (IANS) Curfew was relaxed in parts of this Punjab city as the situation remained calm Saturday, a day after hundreds of migrants went on the rampage, burning vehicles, blocking a national highway and rail tracks to protest police inaction against a gang of bikers looting them for the past few months.
The district administration relaxed curfew in five police station areas, where it was imposed Friday afternoon, from 8.30 a.m. till 5 p.m. Saturday.

Road and railway traffic through the city was restored with police officials present in large numbers in the violence affected areas.

The violence by migrants, which started late Thursday night and carried on unabated till Friday afternoon, had left 23 vehicles, including nine of the Punjab Police, one army truck and private trucks and buses burnt. It was controlled by the police later Friday.

Director General of Police P.S. Gill said that at least 15 policemen were injured as mobs of migrants attacked them with stones and bricks.

Police used tear gas, cane charge and firing in the air to disperse the rampaging mobs. Reinforcements were rushed from all neighbouring districts to control the situation.

The migrants’ ire erupted after the police here failed to register a case of robbery after a migrant was looted by a gang of bikers. The migrants alleged that they were being targeted by the bikers’ gangs for the last few months but the police did not listen to their complaints.

The mobs set several vehicles on fire on busy National Highway No. (NH-1) linking Ludhiana to New Delhi. Hundreds of vehicles on both sides were caught in traffic jams due to the violence and the police had to divert the traffic through other roads which got choked.

At least six trains had to be stopped at Ludhiana, Ambala and Rajpura stations by railway authorities as the mobs blocked the busy railway section near Ludhiana.

Gill said the state government has sought two battalions of paramilitary forces from the central government to maintain peace here.

Ludhiana, which is Asia’s biggest industrial city and home to big brands like Hero and Oswal groups, attracts thousands of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states.

Over one third of the city’s 4 million (40 lakh) people are migrants.