Over 9,500 people, including nine MlAs and one MP, were arrested in the State on Saturday and a few incidents of violence marred a shutdown called by the JMM and other Opposition parties against the State Government’s domicile policy. Protests were noticeable, especially in Jamshedpur, where bandh supporters torched a passenger bus and wrecked another. Miscreants threw a petrol bomb on a truck coming in from Andhra Pradesh via NH-33, injuring its driver and cleaner who were rushed to MGM Hospital.
Protestors blocked the thoroughfare at Dimna Chowk and damaged vehicles which tried to go through their blockade.
Although some trouble-mongers tried to violate peace in the area, they were arrested straightaway, stated East Singhbhum SP Anup T Matthew. With 1,422 prohibitory detentions, the district registered the highest number of arrests in the State during the bandh. Bandh enforcers in Bokaro set ablaze another truck near Jaina More and stopped Barkakana-Gomo Passenger train at Bermo-Bhandaridih, stopping railway traffic on the rail route. Those in Giridih blocked Grand Trunk Road, resulting in long queues of commercial vehicles waiting to enter the district. About 1,080 agitators were detained from the district.
Passengers looking to board a bus to other States or districts had to face difficulties too, with only half the travel agencies willing to ply vehicles with bandh in effect. “I am hard pressed to find a bus to Ramgarh after coming all the way from Chennai,” said Sanjay Kumar Ravi, a CISF personnel waiting at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda bus terminal.