Ghatkopar railway station blocked due to protests
Four injured after two Thane Municipal Transport buses and an auto-rickshaw were vandalised in Chendani Koliwada
The Maharashtra bandh due to the Bhima-Koregaon protests left commuters in Mumbai in the lurch on Wednesday, 3 January. Several schools and colleges were reportedly shut for the day.
According to the latest reports, the metro starting from Ghatkopar has been halted, while two buses and an auto were attacked in Thane, injuring four people. Along with this, the Eastern Express Highway has been reportedly blocked and all modes of transport to and fro from the airport have been stopped as well.
Railways
According to reports, several protesters had been obstructing the dispatch and reception of suburban trains at Virar PF 2.3, from about 8:25 am.
The Administration and Security staff, in response, were making every effort to evacuate the protesters from the railways. Due to this, services were reported to have been considerably delayed.
Local train services were reportedly affected at Borivali before 8 am, while at Goregaon station, one train was reported to have been stopped for about twenty minutes due to the protests, before resuming its journey towards Churchgate station.
For the Central Railways, few protesters were reported to have tried to disrupt services at Thane, but were immediately cleared by RPF and GRP officials.
But due to the efforts of the railway officials and police, the protesters seemed to have been evacuated from the areas concerned as of now, and train services in both the Western and Central railways have been resumed, with a few delays.
Rental Cab Services
In several parts of the city, Ola and Uber users found that there were no cabs available for their commute, and in others, the few that were available, had a minimum of a 20 minute wait and were almost triple the regular fare.
Airlines
In light of the unrest on Mumbai roads due to the protests, airlines have been offering change and cancellation fee waivers for passengers flying to and fro Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad.
School Buses, Auto-Rickshaws and Kaali-Peelis
According to Hindustan Times, the School Bus Owners’ Association (SBOA) said it would not operate its fleet of 40,000 buses on Wednesday for security reasons. Times of India reports that one private school bus was pelted with stones in Chembur, but no injuries were reported. Along with this, several BEST buses have been cancelled in many routes across the city.
Commuters in Mumbai near Andheri, Lower Parel. Borivali and Churchgate have reported that kaali-peelis and auto-rickshaws are very few in number. According to reports, a few autos were attacked in Kandivali as well.
(This story will be updated. Details awaited.)
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