Shutdown in Bihar disrupts road, rail service

Patna, June 10 : A 12-hour shut down called by the Left parties in Bihar against fuel price hike, disrupted road and rail services at some places.

The activists of the Left parties blocked the tracks at Biharsharif, headquarters of Nalanda District and halted Delhi bound Shramjivi Express, a Railway official said.

They also stopped Mithila Express near Mehsi in East Champaran District for some time but the train services were resumed after an hour with the intervention of the police.

Train services where also disrupted for various durations in Samastipur and Bhojpur Districts.

Apart from the railway services the activists also stopped the traffic on National Highway 31 connecting Begusarai with Khagaria and National Highway 28 linking Begusarai to Muzaffarpur and Bakhtiyarpur.

No untoward incident has been reported so far from anywhere else. Markets in major towns like Gaya, Muzaffarpur and the state capital were open.

State and Central Government offices, banks, insurance companies and educational institutions were open and the functioning was normal, official sources said.

The shutdown was called jointly by the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Krantikari Manch.

The Centre on June 4 had announced fuel price hike by about 10 per cent and a cylinder of cooking gas by 17 per cent, the biggest hike in fuel prices in 12 years.

ANI