Mumbai bandh: City suffers as trains crawl, buses stoned, flights cancelled

Mumbai bandh: City suffers as trains crawl, buses stoned, flights cancelled

Mumbaikars struggled to reach their destination as suburban rail services and road transport bore the brunt of protests

by Dalit groups during the day-long 'bandh' against the Bhima Koregaon caste clashes on Tuesday.

Local train commuters struggled to reach offices while motorists remained stuck on roads due to the demonstrations in various parts of the city and the extended suburbs. Flight operations at Mumbai airport were badly hit today due to the Maharashtra-wide protest called by various Dalit groups, with 33 flights, 32 of them from Jet Airways, getting cancelled.

Besides, as many as 377 flights, both flying into and out of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), which is the world's busiest single-runway airport, were delayed.

Services of suburban trains, known as the lifeline of Mumbai, remained disrupted for hours on Central Railway's Main and Harbour Lines, and briefly on Western Railway.

Protesters blocked tracks ahead of Mankhurd railway stations on Harbour line, which resulted into bunching of trains heading towards CSTM and Panvel.

Police personnel dispersed the squatters to clear the tracks.

Harbour line services remained affected for the second consecutive day as protesters today put gunny bags and heavy slippers on tracks between Govandi and Chembur stations in the afternoon, officials said.

The squatters started a fire on tracks between Govandi and Chembur stations, which was promptly doused by security Read more