The truck that overturned near Bidhannagar on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Dec. 17: A fertiliser-laden truck bound for Islampur turned on its side after it rammed into a bus carrying BSF personnel on NH31 near Bidhannagar today, triggering an altercation between police and the border guards.

The mishap, however, did not disrupt traffic on the highway. The vehicles were made to pass through other lanes of the road.

Uday Tamang, the officer-in-charge of Bidhannagar police station, said: “The BSF bus suddenly braked when it reached Sahodargachh around noon. The truck, which was carrying around 500 bags of fertiliser and was coming behind it, lost control and rammed into the bus before turning on its side on the highway.”

At the time of the accident, there was a police jeep parked on the opposite side of the road. Residents of the area and the BSF alleged that the law enforcers had asked a truck, also laden with fertiliser and moving ahead of the bus, to stop. Since the truck stopped suddenly, the border guards’ vehicle, bound for Calcutta, had to apply the brakes.

The Bidhannagar police denied the charge.

“Our jeep was parked there because some of our men went to a bank on a routine visit. After the accident, the BSF personnel snatched the key from our vehicle and tried to abuse us,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar police station.

The BSF returned the keys after about half-an-hour when Tamang and his Bagdogra counterpart Biswanath Das arrived at the spot.

Manoj Chourasia, a BSF inspector who was in the bus, said the fault was on the part of the police. “Our driver had to apply the brakes suddenly because the police had stopped the truck before us. We had a heated exchange with the police and the matter was settled,” he said.

The residents of the area, requesting anonymity, said the police often stopped trucks on the highway to collect bribes from the drivers, an allegation denied by the Bidhannagar police.

Biswanath Prasad, the driver of truck that turned on its side, said the accident could have been avoided if the police jeep had not occupied part of the road.