Bhagalpur district administration on Wednesday gave in the demands of the public and restricted entry of heavy vehicles following a furore in Kahalgaon township after a college student was run over on a stretch of National Highway-80.

A second-year college student was run over by a truck on Tuesday morning near the Kahalgaon railway station. Residents, losing patience with the district administration over the frequent road accidents, blocked the 4-5km stretch of the National Highway 80 for over 18 hours. They had only one demand — restrict entry of heavy vehicles on the stretch.

Seventeen-year-old Puja Kumari was on way to her tuitions around 8am on Tuesday when she was hit by the speeding truck from behind.

While shopkeepers and pedestrians admitted Puja, a second-year Intermediate (arts) student at Shankar Sha Vikramshila College, to a local clinic, angry residents put up a road blockade near Sharda Pathshaala Inter-School in protest against the accident. That continued for three hours.

She was referred to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Bhagalpur, around 48km away, where she succumbed to injuries.

The mob caught the driver of the speeding truck (BR06/G8394) Shivpujan Rai and handed him over to police. Rai, a resident of Motihari, was on his way in the empty truck to Mirjachowki near Sahebganj, around 55km east of Kahalgaon.

The road blockade was lifted around 11am when Kahalgaon sub-divisional officer S.J. Ansari assured the people a decision to implement no-entry on heavy vehicles on the 4-5km stretch of NH-80 would be taken in a meeting called by Bhagalpur district magistrate Prem Singh Meena on Wednesday. Before the meeting could be convened, the residents, however, put up another road blockade at the same spot around 7pm. Puja’s body had been brought back around 6pm and the angry residents put up a second blockade, placing Puja’s body on the road. It was lifted after more than 18 hours at 1.15pm on Wednesday.

Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police Rajesh Kumar said the blockade was lifted following the administration’s assurance to the people of imposing a no-entry on heavy vehicles, on the stretch of the national highway passing through the township, from 5am to 10am and from 2pm to 4pm.

Kahalgaon resident Randhir Kumar said: “The condition of the road is not too good and it has become narrow because of encroachment, but heavy vehicles continue to speed on this stretch. On May 25, another speeding truck had knocked down a motorcyclist and killed his nine-year-old son, Avijit Sha, near the same spot Puja was hit. We have been demanding that the plying of heavy vehicles be restricted on the road for months but nothing was being done towards that.”

The nine-year-old was travelling with his parents — while his father Anuj Sha was injured, his mother Rajni is still fighting for her life in a Patna hospital.

A senior district administration officer in Kahalgaon, however, blamed encroachment on the 4-5km stretch of the national highway by shopkeepers. He admitted to the poor condition of the road though. He said: “The market complex near the accident spot made by the local nagar panchayat did not arrange for any parking space. That has resulted in customers and shopowners parking their vehicles anywhere on the road.”

Arvind Kumar Singh, chairman, Kahalgaon Nagar Panchayat, and Devendra Suman, executive officer, nagar panchayat, were unavailable for comment.