CHENNAI: Action was taken against protesters who staged a rail roko at 15 stations on Friday, said Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials and added no damage was done to people or railway property. The local police, RPF and Railway Protection Safety Force (RPSF) were also deployed at the 25 locations where political groups had threatened to stall rail services. Chennai Central, Egmore, Tindivanam, Melmaruvathur, Avadi, Wallajah Road, Katpadi, Ambattur were some of the stations that saw minor disruption in train services.
“RPF personnel are performing a 12-hour shift instead of 8-hour shift and the situation at Basin Bridge and Chennai Central was in control because of help from state police. Over 200 members of CPI members were arrested and train movement was resumed,” said an RPF officer at Chennai Central. He added that the long distance trains targeted for 15 minutes were during their scheduled stoppages and led to minor disruptions.
“As soon as we were informed that agitation is expected at 25 stations, we deployed our forces. Sixty people were arrested from Chennai Central. Similarly, many who caused disruptions have been booked under section 174 of the Railway Act for obstructing running of train and squatting on the tracks, and under section 147 for trespassing,” said a senior RPF official.
At 10 am over 300 members of CPI led by Thol Thirumavalavan held the agitation at Basin Bridge. Over 600 DMK members laid siege to Egmore and Saidapet stations. The longest holdup of a train was at Korukkupet station for over 35 minutes. EMU services faced a delay of over 20 minutes due to series of protests across stations like Saidapet, Chromepet, Pallavaram, Tambaram. MRTS services ran as usual. “I was going from Egmore to Gudavanchery but everything looked normal in the morning,” said a rail commuter.
