Mumbai: MNS leaders travel in local trains to protest, detained

Police stops MNS workers from entering Borivli station. Pic/Satej Shinde

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists, led by party leader Sandeep Deshpande, violated regulations and travelled by local train on Monday afternoon. Following this, a number of MNS activists and party leaders from Thane and Dombivli were detained by the police.

The MNS launched a city-wide protest to take the agitation further. Asking the Maharashtra government to understand the commuting problems of the common man who is currently barred on local trains, MNS members had threatened to board local trains on Monday to support the demand of opening up suburban trains for everyone.

While the Thane MNS leader Avinash Jadhav was detained by Government Railway Police (GRP), few other MNS activists, who boarded the local train from Vashi station for Thane, were detained at Rabale station.

Citizens blamed the Maharashtra government for imbalance in the situation as in the recent Unlock-4 process it allowed more percentage of private offices to be opened up, but not enough public transport, local trains or Metro, leading to daily commuting issues.

While Western Railway has raised their suburban services for the essential category to 500, Central Railway in Mumbai that is at present running 355 services, may announce additional services for the essential category this week, subject to approvals from the Maharashtra government.

It may be recalled that office goers had mobbed railway stations earlier on three occasions. The latest incident was at Virar railway station on September 7 morning with crowds seeking permission to travel on local trains after buses were delayed for a long time. The same scenario took place at Borivli station on September 5 night and at Nallasopara station on July 22.

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