Mumbai: Suburban train services disrupted at Ghatkopar due to bandh called by Dalit outfits

Pic courtesy: Reuters

Mumbai: Suburban train services were disrupted at Ghatkopar station on Wednesday morning due to the bandh called by Dalit outfits in Maharashtra.

Train services on Central Railway's mainline towards CSMT was affected, in turn delaying thousands of office-goers. 

Officials said that local trains running towards CSMT were halted at several stations because of the protestors squatting on the tracks. There was heavy deployment of railway police as well as Railway Protection Force personnel at the stations, officials said.

A railway police official on duty at Ghatkopar said, "Many protestors have come from distant places and gathered at Ghatkopar to make their bandh a success. We are persuading them to not stall trains," as per IANS.

The bandh was called on Wednesday by several Dalit groups protesting against the violence that occurred at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune on January 1, 2017.

Protests broke out in several towns and cities in Maharashtra on Tuesday when after Monday's violence in Pune spilled over to capital Mumbai.

Clashes between Dalit groups and supporters of 'right-wing Hindu organisations' during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in Pune district had left a man dead.

In Pune, cases were registered by the Pimpri police against Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, who heads the Hindu Ekta Aghadi and Shivraj Pratishthan respectively, for allegedly inciting the violence. The two organisations had opposed the celebration of "British victory" in the battle.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Bombay High Court into the violence. 

(With Agency inputs)