ABVP bandh affects train services in Bihar

PATNA: Train services and road traffic were disrupted, vehicles damaged and shops forcibly closed at several places in Bihar today during a 24-hr Bihar bandh called by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ( ABVP).

The bandh was called to protest police lathicharge and firing during ABVP's ' Vidhan Sabha march' on March 26, in which several ABVP members were injured.

ABVP members assembled in the Patna University area of the state capital today and forced suspension of classes, closure of university offices and other educational institutions in the area.

They marched through the busy Ashok Rajpath and Gandhi Maidan area burning tyres in the middle of the road and forcing shopkeepers to down their shutters, a police officer said.

They also damaged windscreens of private vehicles, auto-rickshaws and tried to attack police patrol cars en route to Dak Bungalow square, the nerve centre of city traffic.

The police geared up with heavy deployment of personnel around the Dak Bungalow area. It resorted to mild lathicharge once the charged up protestors reached there, forcing them to flee. A few of them were arrested, the officer said.

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jitendra Rana said, "We are keeping a watch over the situation. Our personnel have contained the demonstrators, wherever they tried to go out of control."

Patna Rail SP Prakash Nath Mishra said several passenger trains, South Bihar Express, Toofan Express, Mahabodhi Express, Patliputra Express and Farakka Express were stopped by ABVP activists at different places in Patna, Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Bhojpur and Gaya districts.