Mumbai: 30 people, including 15 women who were arrested for the rail roko protests in Borivli are to be produced in a Mumbai court on Thursday.
They are charged with damaging public property and assaulting police personnel.
Rail services along the western line in Mumbai were halted for over four hours on Wednesday as angry commuters staged protests at the Borivali station. The protests broke out after a local train was cancelled during peak morning hours.
Outrage was triggered by an announcement that a Churchgate-bound local train would arrive on another platform quite a distance away than scheduled earlier.
The ensuing four-hour agitation disturbed commuter schedules, leaving thousands stranded on railway tracks and platforms.
Railway services were severely affected during the peak hours in Mumbai on Wednesday after thousands of commuters agitated at Borivali Railway station.
The protesters demanded more trains along the Borivali-Virar belt. Services resumed only five hours later, after the police used baton-charge on a section of the crowd that was threatening to turn violent. The agitation also led to over crowding of buses and traffic jam on the roads.
Almost a year ago thousands of angry commuters blocked traffic in Virar for a day demanding more trains. Railway officials say the numbers of services were increased after that and this is only a one-off outburst.
Lakhs of commuters depend on the arterial Railway lines to ferry them to offices, mostly situated in southern Mumbai. Already the western line is stretched to more than double its capacity, say authorities.
The sheer volume of commuters makes it difficult for the Railways to come up with magical and instantaneous solutions, defend officials.
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