Around 12,000 angry commuters at Nalasopara station in Thane on Tuesday brought trains on the western line to a halt for around four hours. They went on the rampage and attacked policemen forcing cops to open fire in the air.
The protest was triggered when train services were hit in the morning after an overhead wire snapped between Borivali and Dahisar stations.
Because of the snag,train services were disturbed from 7 am and trains were late,which got the commuters agitated. They pelted stones at policemen injuring two officers,senior police inspector Namankit More and inspector Ramesh Pawar,who are posted at Vasai railway police station,when they were trying to save a motorman from the fury of commuters.
“When my senior inspector More and I were taking the motorman to a safe place,commuters pelted stones at us. More was injured in the leg. I was injured in the head and nose,” said Pawar.
“To control the mob,police had to fire in the air. It was similar to the agitation two years back at Virar,when goons in the guise of commuters vandalised the station and entered into a fight with photographers capturing the act,” said a police source at Nalasopara. Today,commuters did not cause much harm to railway property. A sweet shop at Nalasopara station (east) was damaged.
According to SS Gupta,Chief PRO,WR,“Trains ran late between Churchgate and Virar due to the snag. And 10.55 am,services were restored. But at 10.30 am,the mob staged the agitation which continued till 1 pm.” The OHE wire broke down on the down line between Borivali and Dahisar station at 7 am. Till services were restored at 10.55 am after the wire was repaired,local trains were running on three lines ( one slow up line and two up and down fast line). These were delayed around 25 minutes. Meanwhile 5 up and down outstation trains were given halts between Virar and Borivali,said Gupta.
Pramod Harlaka,going to Palghar for his son Ronak’s admission in a computer course at St John technical college at Palghar,said, “We boarded Vapi passenger train from Bhayandar at 10.25 am,but when we reached Vasai,it stopped there for hours. There was no announcement. We reached Palghar at 4 pm. Today was the last day for admission. So,we left the train at 12.30 pm and took a taxi to Palghar and reached just in time for the admission,” said Harlaka.
This is the second day in a row that an ovehead wire is snapping on WR. On Monday,a wire had snapped at Bhayander. Today,22 train services were cancelled.
Today’s incident is the seventh OHE breakdown this financial year. Last financial year,six cases of OHE breakdown were recorded between Churchgate and Virar.
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