Belagavi: The Belagavi-Panjim National Highway-4A was blocked by thousands of college students for several hours in protest against the death of a engineering college girl in a road mishap in Belgavi on Monday.

Darshana Sanjay Chougule (19) met with accident on Monday, when she was riding a two-wheeler. Reportedly, she came under the wheels of a truck at Margaon Cross on the highway and died on the spot. Already 10 people have lost their lives in accidents on this stretch of road in the past one year.

Enraged students from various colleges gathered at the accident spot at 10 am and blocked the National Highway till 1 pm. They alleged that local authorities’ negligence in completing road-widening works caused the accident.

They also demanded immediate completion of road widening works from Tilakwadi 3rd gate to Mache on the highway. The traffic jam ran for over 5 km on both sides.

The authorities who came to the spot banned the movement of all heavy vehicles on the stretch from 7 am to 9 am and from 4 pm to 7 pm every day as per the demands of the protesters.

Additional police forces were deployed to bring the situation under control. After a long argument, the authorities managed to get the students to withdraw the agitation.