Over 100 suburban services were cancelled on the Central Railway route on Wednesday as thousands of slumdwellers, fearing demolition, resorted to rail roko in Kalwa. The rail roko was spearheaded by Shiv Sena and NCP leaders.
As the slums are located near the railway tracks, a sea of protesters gathered on the tracks to block the movement of trains. The police had imposed bandobast, but failed to disperse the crowd for two hours. As a result, slow local train services on both up and down directions were shut between Thane and Kalyan for one-and-a-half hours from 7.20 am. Since the incident took place during the peak hours, scores of officegoers had to face the brunt of the agitation; many were left stranded and could not reach their workplace. The slumdwellers have encroached upon the now liquidated Mafatlal Industries Ltd., as well as government land in Kalwa. The Bombay high court had ordered demolition of the slums, and the TMC was to start the proceedings.
When asked about the inconvenience caused to lakhs of commuters, NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad said, “I am extremely sorry for the plight of the commuters, but no incident of violence was reported. The protest did not take an ugly turn such as the Azad Maidan violence. We will not allow the 40,000-odd slums to be demolished. The chief minister should intervene and grant relief to the slumdwellers.”
Shiv Sena MLAs Eknath Shinde and Pratap Sarnaik too joined the protest later. The Kalwa police has registered offences against 73 persons including Mr Awhad.