Stranded bus passengers create ruckus at railway station in Maharashtra

Upset over the discontinuation of state transport buses, passengers created ruckus at the Nallasopara railway station on Mumbai's suburban network and also tried to stop the movement of local trains on Wednesday morning, the Government Railway Police (GRP) said.

An office-goer told PTI that the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) stopped plying its buses for Mumbai since morning.

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Hence, employees of various private companies were left stranded as they were not even able to board the local trains since they do not fall in the essential services category, he said.

The Railways last month resumed suburban train services in Mumbai for ferrying staff of the essential services. The services were halted in March this year following the outbreak of Covid-19.

According to a GRP officer, some irked bus passengers jumped on slow tracks at the Nallasopara station in neighbouring Palghar district and tried to stop the trains around 8 am, but they were removed from there after some time.

"They first protested outside the railway station against the closure of the public bus services and later entered the station premises and tried to stop the trains," the official said.

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Security was later stepped up at the railway station with the deployment of additional force and the train services were resumed, he said.

An office-goer said a large number of stranded passengers were still at the Nallasopara bus stand.

He said the MSRTC stopped operating its buses for Mumbai since morning. This left several employees of private companies stranded as they do not fall into the category of essential services.

"I used to travel by the state transport bus to reach my office at Borivali, but now I don't have any option as the bus service has been suddenly discontinued," he said.