Mumbai, March 20: Five Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel and Six Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel have been injured in stone pelting in Mumbai. The incident took place while hundreds of agitated students blocked the rail traffic over their demand for jobs in the Indian Railways.

On Tuesday, lakhs of commuters faced hardships during the peak office hours as student protesters took to railway tracks. As per reports by PTI, around 400 to 500 students from several states, who have done apprenticeship with the Indian Railways and want permanent jobs now, came out and sat on railway tracks at about 6.45 am.

The disruption on Tuesday morning forced the Central Railway (CR) to stop the suburban as well as express train services on the affected section - between Matunga and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).

As per details by the Chief PRO of the Central Railways Sunil Udasi, the rail services on the affected section between Matunga and CSMT have resumed after the protesters were removed from the tracks.

Why the protest?

Scores of protesting students demanded jobs in railways. Alleging their demands have not been fulfilled, the students today blocked rail traffic, including suburban services between Matunga and Dadar stations. This caused difficulties to lakhs of commuters on Tuesday morning.  As per PTI reports, students blocked the rail track at 7 am in the morning, forcing railway to stop the suburban as well as express train in the affected section between Matunga and CSMT.

Entire four lines on the Central Lines= were affected between Matunga and CSMT. Police and railway official are having talks with them, the official said. "There has been no recruitment since last four years. We are struggling from pillars to post. Over 10 students have committed suicide. We cannot let such things happen," a student who was part of the protest said.

BEST’s additional support:

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST), the transport wing of the city civic body, was running additional bus services to help the stranded passengers and office-goers reach their destinations.

"Considering the hardships faced by commuters, we decided to run extra services of the BEST buses," said Anil Kokil, the chairman of the BEST committee - the decision-making body of the civic body's transport wing.

"We are running additional trips from Kurla, Ghatkopar and Mulund stations. All the bus depots have been asked to press additional and maximum services," he said.

Commuters hit by rail disruption:

Tthousands of commuters, who were stranded for hours in trains which bore the brunt of the agitation, alighted from the coaches and were seen walking along the railway tracks. Some even took to the social media to express their woes. Reports state that the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Mumbai police earlier had to use mild force to disperse the agitating students at Matunga.

The protesters, who have passed apprentice exam, are demanding full-time jobs in the Indian Railways and scrapping of the rail general manager's quota (GM quota) of filling in 20 per cent vacancies. The protesting students also held placards displaying their demands. In view of the agitation, the CR authorities swung into action and said a fresh round of exams to recruit the apprentices will be held soon.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2018 03:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).