Maratha protest: Thane, Navi Mumbai suffer at hands of rampaging mob

At Thane railway station, protesters staged a rail roko, but called it off within 10 minutes. Pic/Sameer Markande

The protests by the Maratha community in Thane and Navi Mumbai on Wednesday were anything but peaceful. The agitation was replete with stone pelting, bus burning and rail and rasta roko incidents, which ended in lathi charge from the police in Kalamboli and Thane.

The protesters reportedly damaged property worth Rs 10 lakh. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Thane and Navi Mumbai, blocking roads and stopping trains. Though organizers had assured a peaceful protest, stone pelting was reported from several areas like Wagle Estate, Nitin Company, Majiwada, Ghansoli, Kalamboli, Koparkhairane, Panvel and Vashi. In Thane, demonstrators also damaged six TMT buses, but the Maratha Kranti Morcha denied the incident, alleging someone else was behind it. More than 15 police officers were injured in the protest.

Agitators had closed off the Mumbai-Pune expressway for more than three hours. In Kalamboli and Thane, cops had to lathi charge protesters during a rasta roko, while in Koparkhairane, a police chowky was burnt.

They also stopped trains in Thane and Ghansoli in the morning. Thane station Manager, SB Mahidhar said, "They called off their protest within 10 minutes. Apart from that, the other services were moving safely." However, the trans-harbour line of Central Railway was majorly affected, with 56 cancellations, because protestors stayed on the tracks, threatening to burn down the train if passengers did not alight.

The troubles didn't stop after the bandh was called off either. At Thane's Nitin Company area, protestors pelted stones on cops and broke the DCP's car, after which cops had to fire tear shots twice to control the mob.

At Wagle Estate, a bus was vandalized. Demonstrators also shut down petrol pumps and stopped buses outside Thane bus depot. Thane police detained more than
30 protestors.

Can't go home
Those in hospitals also couldn't go back home because there were no autorickshaws. Abdul Shaikh from Uran whose wife was at MGM hospital after delivering their baby girl said, "We were about to get her discharged today [Wednesday], but because there are no vehicles to reach the station, we have to stay back. We cannot buy food or ask anyone to come give it to us. The hospital has given us some fruits that'll help my wife, but I'll have to starve for the day."

Also read: Mumbai Bandh: BEST buses suffer the wrath of Maratha Kranti Morcha

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