|
Patna: Trains were
blocked and trucks and buses were off the roads in Bihar as a
daylong shutdown called by opposition parties to protest the
killing of three people in police firing last week came into
effect Monday.
Workers of opposition parties blocked railway tracks and forcibly
stopped trains at various stations to enforce the shutdown against
the firing in Madhubani Monday that also injured over a dozen
people. Trucks and buses too remained off the road in the state,
police said.
The parties supporting the state-wide shutdown include the
Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party, Congress and
Nationalist Congress Party as well as the Communist Party of India
(CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist
Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML).
"Several long route trains as well as passenger trains were
stopped by bandh supporters and the road traffic was badly hit
across the state," a police official said.
Trains were forcibly stopped at major railway stations like Patna,
Gaya, Jehanabad and Darbhanga, police said.
According to East Central Railway zone officials in Hajipur, about
20 km from here, thousands of passengers were stranded at various
railway stations.
Workers of opposition parties blocked railway tracks in Nalanda,
Gaya, Jehanabad, Darbhanga, Hajipur, Bhagalpur and Saharsa
districts, disrupting train services, an official said.
Besides, traffic was disrupted on national and state highways at
various places. In Patna, busy roads like Ashok Rajpath,
Exhibition Road, Bailey Road and Fraser Road were blocked by the
shutdown supporters, police said.
All private schools and colleges in the city remained closed in
view of the strike.
Additional Director General (Police Headquarters) Ravinder Kumar
said additional police forces were deployed in several areas to
avoid any untoward incident during the shutdown.
Two youth were killed Friday and over a dozen people injured after
police opened fire at an irate mob in Madhubani town. Another
youth injured in police action Saturday died Sunday.
The town has been simmering since a headless body was found almost
a fortnight ago. The family members of a missing youth, Prashant
Kumar, claimed that the body was his and demanded that it be
handed over to them -- but the police remained unrelenting.
Hundreds of people joined the family members in pressing the
demand. But when police still refused to give in, the mob turned
violent and indulged in violent protests Friday and Saturday.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a judicial inquiry
into the incident and transferred the district magistrate and
superintendent of police with immediate effect.
|
Comments
|
Quick links