Title - Fuel hike: RPI stages rail roko

In protest against the recent hike in petrol prices, the Ramdas Athawale-led Republican Party of India (RPI) staged a 'rail roko' at the Ulhasnagar station on Sunday. An RPI spokesperson said Central Railway (CR) services were disrupted owing to the 30-minute protest.Last week, prices of petrol in the city rose by Rs. 7.50 to cost Rs 78 a litre.“Nana Bagul, president of the Ulhasnagar district of RPI, led the protest and was joined by around 100 party workers, who stalled trains during the period,” said Mayur Borkar, RPI spokesperson.The Railway Protection Force arrested the protesting party workers and released them an hour later, Borkar added.However, Vidyadhar Malegaonkar, chief spokesperson, CR, said the protest had no impact on the services and trains were running as per schedule. Meanwhile, commuters were also slightly inconvenienced due to mega blocks for maintenance work on the Western Railway and Central Railway’s harbour line between 11 am and 4 pm. RPI workers also blocked traffic for nearly an hour on LBS Road, Bhandup.