Mumbai Beat

Rail roko at Asangaon

Peak-hour suburban services on the Central Railway were disrupted today when nearly 1,000 residents staged a rail roko at Asangaon demanding construction of a footover bridge at the railway station.

Asangaon has an island platform, with railway tracks running on both sides, and a footover bridge to the eastern side. Two days ago, a woman tried to reachthe platform by crossing the track under a goods train. The train started moving, dragging the woman along. She lost both her legs in the accident.

Angered over the incident, the residents sent letters to railway officials demanding a footover bridge on the western side. Having received no reply, they sat on the tracks, blocking both suburban and long-distance rail traffic from 7.05 am to 12.15 pm.

Dharna by automen

Autorickshawmen went on a dharna at Bandra railway station today protesting the alleged manhandling of a driver by Santacruz police. According to Bombay Autorickshawmen8217;s Union BAU, an accident involving a Maruti and a rickshaw took place near Santacruz on July 5 at around 10 pm. When the autorickshaw driver went to the police station to complain, he was allegedly manhandled by station staff on the pretext that he had no valid documents with him. A fine of Rs 2,000 was also slapped on him.