BJP stir paralyses train traffic in Surat for two hours

The train movement in Surat was severely affected for a couple of hours on Monday,thanks to a BJP-sponsored Rail roko andolan against alleged discrimination to Gujarat on various issues.

The train movement in Surat was severely affected for a couple of hours on Monday,thanks to a BJP-sponsored Rail roko andolan against alleged discrimination to Gujarat on various issues. This left a cascading effect up to Ahmedabad where some trains

were rescheduled. Later,62 protestors from Surat and 21 from Udhna were rounded up.

At Surat,many passengers had to take state transport buses to reach their destinations after hundreds of agitators walked up to stations to stop the rail traffic from Bharuch to Vapi. The stir call was given by Navsari MP C R Patil.

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The protestors led by Patil and Surat BJP president Purnesh Modi ensured that several Mumbai and Ahmedabad bound trains were stopped. The agitation lasted for two hours with Divisional Railway Manager Girish Pillai giving a written assurance to Patil to look after their concerns.

The issues raised include replacement of steel girders of the road on bridge no 449 and 441,early commencement and completion of Udhna Jalgaon doubling of track,cleanliness of Surat station platforms 1 and 2,extra sleeper coaches in Surat Bhusaval passenger train,more frequency for Valsad-Vadodara and Surat-Amravati trains,restoration of Shatabdi-type AC special between Bandra and Surat with a halt at Navsari,introduction of Surat-Ahmedabad fast passenger,raising of emergency quota at

Surat,increasing frequency of Surat-Puri and Surat-Varansai Express.

Meanwhile in Vadodara,lack of coordination between the local and Surat BJP members was visible,due to which the agitation lost steam there.

MP and city Mayor Balkrishna Shukla attributed low attendance to issues being Surat centric.

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