Title - Train traffic disrupted, shops closed in Bihar

Train traffic disrupted, shops closed in Bihar
Patna, May 31 (IANS) The shutdown called by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents and Left parties in Bihar against the hike in petrol prices Thursday impacted life across the state with sporadic violence reported from some areas, police said. Several trains were halted and vehicular movement was severely hit across the state. "Protestors blocked railway tracks in Patna, Gaya, Darbhanga, Hajipur and Bhagalpur, disrupting train services. The strikers have been forcibly stopping trains at various railway stations since morning," a railway official said. Hundreds of passengers were stranded at scores of railway stations, bus stations and taxi stands since early Thursday. Police said that more than 1,000 workers and leaders of the NDA and Left parties have been arrested since the shutdown came into effect. Senior Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav was arrested in Saharsa district along with JD-U MP from Khagaria parliamentary constituency Dinesh Chandra Yadav, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Shahnawaz Hussain was arrested in Bhagalpur where he was leading protestors. According to police, over a dozen legislators of the JD-U and BJP have been arrested. BJP state president C.P. Thakur claimed that the response to the shutdown was near total in the state. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) leader Kunal said that people were supporting the shutdown as they were fed up with hike in fuel prices. Hundreds of workers of the JD-U and the BJP forced shops and commercial establishments to close down for the day in the state. Protestors damaged a number of vehicles in state capital Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga to enforce the shutdown, a police official said. A group of ruling NDA activists also ransacked the Mairwa railway station in Siwan district. At Patna's busy Dak Bungalow crossing, JD-U and CPI-ML workers clashed over burning of an effigy of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Bihar's main Opposition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and its alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party, did not join the shutdown.