MOHALI: The forest officers, who were assaulted at a check post in Mohali district on Monday night, had tried to call police helpline 100, but couldn’t get through. According to Rajinder Singh, a forest guard, who was attacked along with others, “We tried calling Mohali police by dialling 100, but couldn’t reach them despite repeated attempts. We also called 108 (ambulance service), but no one responded.”“When then called our friends, who took us to the hospital,” said Singh.The issue of emergency numbers not working was raised at the press conference held by Mohali police. Replying to a question, Chahal said that to solve the problem related to emergency numbers, they were in process to setup a new emergency number “112”. “I am aware of the fact that there is a problem in getting through to the police by dialling 100. It’s a problem throughout Punjab. But we are now taking steps and have a new one number (112) for all emergencies, including police, hospital and fire. The control room for this number will be set up at the NRI wing headquarters building in Mohali,” said Chahal.Police on Wednesday arrested four out of the six persons who assaulted seven forest officers at a check post.The accused have been identified as Satpreet Singh, Satvinder Singh, Jagjeet Singh and Inderjeet Singh, all in their early 20s and residents of Seonk village.Devinder Singh, 48, a forest block officer, and Karnail Singh, 58, a ‘beldar’ or grounds man, were left profusely bleeding from the neck, head and shoulder after the attack and are fighting for their life at PGI, Chandigarh.The forest officers were manning a check-post at Seonk village near Mullanpur when they stopped a tractor-trolley loaded with sand and some logs of wood from trees that had been illegally felled.Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said, “They have recovered the tractor-trolley and Hyundai i-20 car used in the crime. These vehicles were registered in the name of accused Lavpreet Singh and Amrit Singh, who are absconding.”He said that all the accused are locals and running their business of illegal mining on a small scale. “We did not find any criminal record of all the accused. However, the investigation is on and I asked for their record from all police stations, if they find any,” said SSP.Battling for lifePolice said Devinder Singh, 48, a forest block officer, and Karnail Singh, 58, a ‘beldar’ or grounds man, were under observation for 48 hours. Doctor said they are still battling for their life at PGI, Chandigarh.

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