MUMBAI: Upset over discontinuation of the state transport buses, hundreds of passengers created ruckus at the Nallasopara railway station on Mumbai's suburban network and a bus stand nearby for more than two hours, authorities said.
Nearly 200 commuters entered the Nallasopara station, located in neighbouring Palghar district, and jumped on rail tracks and stopped a local train briefly, they said.
The agitation ended after mediation by police and resumption of bus services around 10.30 am, sources said.
According to the Government Railway Police (GRP), as the state transport bus services were unavailable from the Nallasopara bus stand, the angry passengers entered the railway station and stopped the train movement around 8 am.
An office-goer told PTI that the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) stopped plying its buses for Mumbai since morning.
Hence, employees of various private companies were left stranded as they were not even able to board the local trains since they do not fall in the essential services category, he said.
The Railways last month resumed suburban train services in Mumbai for ferrying staff of the essential services.
The services were halted in March this year following the outbreak of COVID-19.
The Western Railway said nearly 200 members of the general public entered the station around 8.25 am and jumped on the tracks as the state transport bus services were disrupted.
"A local train (going to Virar) was stopped by commuters at platform no.1 of the Nallasopara station from 8.27 am to 8.31 am. Commuters were suitably counselled by RPF/ GRP that special suburban services are being operated only for the staff of essential categories as notified," Western Railway's chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said.
He said the suburban services resumed immediately and the situation at the station normalised around 8.45 am.
Security was later stepped up at the railway station and bus stand with the deployment of additional force, the GRP official said.
"The commuters first protested outside the railway station against the closure of the public bus services and later entered the station premises and tried to stop the trains," he said.
An office-goer said a large number of stranded passengers gathered at the Nallasopara bus stand after they found there was no services available.
Many of them argued with the police and MSRTC officials.
The MSRTC stopped operating its buses for Mumbai since Wednesday morning.
This left several employees of private companies stranded as they do not fall into the category of essential services, the office-goer said.
"I used to travel by the state transport bus to reach my office at Borivali, but now I don't have any option as the bus service has been suddenly discontinued," he said.
The public agitation ended after mediation by police mediation and resumption of bus services around 10.30 am, sources said.
The MSRTC later arranged buses atthe Nallasopara bus stand andthe crowd dispersed after services resumed from there at around 10.30 am, the sources said.
A spokesperson of the MSRTC said nearly 4,000 people came to the Nallasopara bus stand in the morning.
The MSRTC generally operates 300 services every day from Nallasopara, but since Tuesday, there was a sudden increase in the number of passengers and they were asking to be permitted to travel in buses meant for the essential service employees, the spokesperson said.
The MSRTC "discontinued the bus service" on the request of police as people were not following the social distancing norms and it was also impossible to arrange extra buses at that time, he said.
"Considering the growing demand of the passengers, extra buses will be arranged in future," he added.