In Thane, schools shut, vehicles off roads, offices empty

THANE: The normally buzzing schools and colleges, the chacophony of vehicles and the rush of office-goers went silent on Wednesday as protesting mobs of Dalit activists took to the streets to enforce a complete shutdown in Thane, the working class neighborhood 35km from Mumbai.

The protesters, however, have refrained from any acts of violence and no incident of stone throwing or attack on motorists or lathi-charge by the police has been reported so far.

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The public transport buses, which are the soft target of the mob, have not reported any damage and services are running normal.

Angry protesters waving the blue flags, laid seige at the main entry and exit points of Thane, as they blocked traffic on the Eastern Express highway early morning.

A huge posse of police personnel led by DCP Sunil Lokhande was seen persuading and convincing the mob to clear the road.

A mob of Dalit youths trooped onto the railway track at Thane station and attempted to block the path of a slow train heading towards CSMT at Thane railway station around 7:50am for around three minutes.

The busy and noisy junction at LBS road, the Teen Hath Naka and Cadbury junctions witnessed groups of protesters trying to dissuade traffic by deflating tires of buses, shutting shops and forcing auto drivers to refrain from playing commuter's. However, no untoward incident has been reported so far.

Many Thaneites who were heading to work in their private vehicles also returned home as they couldn't cross the toll plaza which was blocked by the protestors.

With most rickshaws and private vehicles off the narrow lanes as well as main highways in the city are now deserted.

The shopkeepers across the main markets of Jambli Naka, Kopri, station are have been made to pull down their shutters.

As a precautionary measure, many city schools including Sulochanadevi Singhania, Lodha World School, Euro Kids School and DAV Thane school have declared today a holiday and will make up for the missed academics on any of the upcoming weekly holidays.

While protestors had also forced shut operations at the MSRTC depot outside Thane station west, most of the services to and fro the city have resumed.

The central railway services, meanwhile, are running smoothly.

(Inputs from Manoj Badgeri, Nishikant Karlikar, Shrutika Sukhi and Avani Ghangurde)