Mumbai: The Central Railway (CR) will take a call on whether or not to run services in light of the Maharashtra bandh that was called by Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday. The disruption on Tuesday hit evening peak hour services when throngs of commuters come from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Belapur and Panvel on the Harbour line.
Divisional railway manager S.K. Jain explained that the call would be taken according to the Mumbai police’s directives. “We are going to take a call about not just harbour, but all services according to what the Mumbai police tell us and the situation across the various suburbs.”
The CR will also deploy an extra railway police force on Wednesday, which will monitorthe situation.
“We will be putting our Railway Police Force on special duty but if the Mumbai police asks us to stop services due to unrest, we will have no other option.”
Recounting her ordeal on Tuesday, commuter Deepti Khera (27), a resident of Kharghar, said, “I was stuck forever.
I finally went to Thane and then to CSMT from there. It took me around three hours to complete what is normally a one-hour journey.”
Senior CR officials are also conducting a high-level meeting on how to handle the situation if protesters disrupt services once again.
