ABVP shutdown hits rail, road transport in Bihar

Patna, March 30 (IANS) Road and train traffic in Bihar was hit on Monday during a shutdown called by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to protest the police action against its members during a rally near the Bihar assembly last week.

Thousands of members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's student wing took to the streets, blocked national and state highways at several places, and squatted on railway tracks, officials said. As a result, traffic on highways and roads was severely affected, and train movements were brought to a halt.

"The protest derailed rail and road services in nearly a dozen districts so far," a police official said.

ABVP enjoyed the support of BJP and its ally Lok Janshakti Party's students wing in enforcing the shutdown.

Most shops, business establishments and educational institutions, however, were open in several parts of Patna and other districts.

Slogan-shouting ABVP members stopped trains at various railway stations, including Gaya, Jehanabad, Ara, Barh, Mokama, Patna, Darbhanga. Similarly, they blocked roads in Jehanabad, Arwal, Nalanda, Patna and Aurangabad districts.

According to railway officials, hundreds of passengers were stranded at stations across the state.

The demonstrators also burnt tyres on the streets of Patna to express their anger against the police action.

"Police have been alerted to avoid any untoward incident and additional security forces have been deployed to maintain law and order," Bihar Police chief P.K. Thakur told media here.

Police fired several rounds in the air and resorted to a baton charge to disperse ABVP demonstrators near the Bihar assembly last Thursday. The ABVP activists were protesting the prevailing state of affairs in the state's education sphere, and pelted stones at the police force when stopped at the assembly complex.

More than 100 people were injured while an equal number of ABVP activists were detained. Monday's shutdown was called against that police action.