VHP's 'chakka jam' disrupts vehicular, rail traffic in UP

Lucknow, Aug 13 (UNI) Vehicular and rail traffic in Uttar Pradesh was thrown out of gear today, following two-hour long 'chakka jam' by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in support of the demand to hand over the proposed land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

Railway services were suspended across the state with several long distance trains delaying for over one hour.

The agitators squatted on the rail tracks at Kanpur, Mugalsarai, Lucknow, Etawah, Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Agra between 0900 hrs to 1100 hrs.

Police sources here claimed that the 'chakka jam' was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the state.

National Highways at Kanpur, Bareilly, Agra, Lucknow, Sitapur, Gorakhpur and Varanasi were blocked by the VHP-BJP activists for about two hours.

In Lucknow, vehicular and rail services were thrown into disorder at 16 places resulting into jams during the office time rush.

The VHP leaders claimed that the 'chakka jam' was a total success and people joined them in support of the agitation started in Jammu to demand immediate handing over of the land to the SASB.

The VHP and BJP had called for a two-hour 'chakka jam' from 0900 hrs to 1100 hrs today in the country to support the agitation in Jammu.

The BJP leaders had court arrested themselves in front of the Raj Bhawan here during a demonstration over the same issue.

Police had to lathicharge the BJP activists to prevent them scaling the Raj Bhawan gate.

UNI MB ATI CS1144