Suburban train services on the Central Railway ground to a halt in north-central and north-eastern Mumbai for nearly three and a half hours on Tuesday morning affecting 4.5 million commuters, after “300 to 400” railway apprentices resorted to a violent “rail roko” agitation between Dadar and Matunga railway stations, demanding jobs.
The protesters indulged in intense stone throwing at police personnel who resorted to lathi-charge to quell the rioting mobs. Eleven police constables were injured in the stone-throwing indulged in by the agitators.
The agitating railway apprentices took the Central Railway authorities by surprise, as they squatted on the tracks at 7.15 am and blocked trains for the next three and a half hours on both Up and down directions between the Dadar and Matunga railway stations in north-central Mumbai.
Soon after the police personnel tried to remove the squatting students from the railway tracks, the agitators hurled stones at them. However, the police managed to remove the squatting railway apprentices from the railway tracks at around 10.30 am. The services were restored on the affected track at around 10.45 am. Apart from bringing to a standstill the suburban train services on the Central Railway, the flash agitation by the railway apprentices also affected the movement of the long-distance train services.
Given that the railway apprentices had resorted to “rail roko” during morning peak hours, lakhs of office-goers were stranded at many places en route to south Mumbai where a majority of government offices, private firms and business establishments exist.
In all, 45 lakh commuters travel by the main suburban line of the Central Railway every day.