Protestagainstterrorstopswrinitstracks
55 services on WR hit as protestors block tracks, pelt stones at Nala Sopara
MUMBAI: Services on the Western Railway (WR) were paralysed for nearly five hours on Saturday morning as 10,000 people staged a rail roko at Nala Sopara to protest the terror attack in Pulwama, in which at least 40 CRPF jawans were killed. As many as 55 suburban services were hit during the protests, along with more than a dozen outstation trains.
The protests started off at Nala Sopara around 8am, with agitators blocking the tracks and chanting slogans. Stone-pelting was also reported at some areas. The protests then spread to Virar and Vasai. Although a similar rail roko protest kicked off at Mankhurd station on the Harbour line of the Central Railway (CR), railway security agencies immediately drove away the protestors. Sunil Udasi, chief spokesperson of CR, said it had no adverse repercussions on suburban services.
“This is not the appropriate way of protesting as it has caused inconvenience to a large number of suburban and long distance passengers,” said Ravinder Bhakar, chief spokesperson of WR. Every day, around 36 lakh commuters travel on WR and 40 lakh commuters travel on CR.
The Railway Police Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) had to resort to lathi charge at Nala Sopara to clear the mob, said inspector Gorakh Nath Mall of Virar RPF.
According to a tweet by the divisional railway manager (DRM), Mumbai division of Western Railway (WR), all services between Virar and Nala Sopara were temporarily terminated at Vasai Road. “Services between Churchgate and Vasai Rd stations are running normally,” the DRM posted, adding that the GRP and RPF were taking efforts to clear the tracks and normalise movement of trains.
Churchgate locals going towards Virar ran up till Vasai, while long-distance express trains were short-terminated between Dahanu, Boisar, Palghar and other stations. Services finally resumed at 1.30pm. “I had to walk from Nala Sopara to Virar because of the rail roko. At Virar, I learnt that the Surat-mumbai Flying Ranee Superfast Express was not moving towards Mumbai owing to the protests,” said Pratik Patil, a Palghar resident, who works in Andheri. “A 15-coach Virar-andheri local was stuck at Virar and two Churchgate-dahanu morning trains had not reached Virar.” The Virar-dahanu shuttle trains, however, operated normally as the Virar-dahanu track was clear, he said.
Amish Wadkar, a textile busi- nessman from Boisar, who was on the 7.45am Dahanu-churchgate local, said the train was stopped near Nala Sopara. “Locals on the tracks started pelting stones and banging on the doors and windows with lathis. Some of them even entered the coaches. We had to finally get off the train and walk back,” he said.
Another commuter, Bhaskar Yewale, a Navi Mumbai resident, said such protests will disturb normal life and economy.
The protests also spread to others parts of the cities as several shops and commercial establishments in Virar downed their shutters. A few civic-run buses in Vasai were halted as protestors threatened to deflate tyres, said Prathamesh Tawde, a Virar resident. The MSRTC ran extra services from Palghar, Vasai, and Virar to Borivli to clear the morning rush of passengers.