Agitation by Left, UNPA against price rise

Patna, Apr 23 (UNI) The movement of some express and passenger trains were affected today in the Danapur division of East Central Railways (ECR) following the on going week-long agitation of the Left parties and United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) against the soaring prices of essentials.

On the last day of their agitation, the activists of the Left parties and of the UNPA stopped trains across Bihar from 1000 hours to 1100 hours.

Agitating against the rising prices, the leaders and the activists assembled near Rajendra Nagar roundabout and marched to the nearby Rajendra Nagar Railway Station.

Leading the procession, CPI(M) state secretariat member Arun Kumar Mishra said here that hundreds of workers and cadres of the Left parties, with red flags and banners and raising slogans against price rise, squatted on the railway tracks for an hour and stopped the Mumbai bound Rajendra Nagar- Lokmanya Tilak Express and local trains.

Railway sources said that the security personnel of the Government Rail Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested CPI(M) state secretariat member Sarangdhar Paswan along with several district level leaders and caders of Left parties as well as of the UNPA.

Meanwhile, according to the reports reaching here, the agitationists also staged dharna in Darbhanga, Samastipur, Madhubani, Khagaria, Saharsa, Bhojpur and Rohtas.

Mr Mishra said that the Left parties along with UNPA would intensify the agitation if the Centre and the state governments failed to bring down the rising prices.

UNI RS ADG RN1810