On Tuesday morning around 7 am, agitating students blocked rail traffic in Mumbai demanding jobs in the Railways. Reportedly, the students blocked the rail track forcing the department to stop the suburban and express trains in the affected areas between Matunga and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). However, the Rail Roko protest was called off at around 11 am after which the services were resumed.
The protests caused inconvenience for thousands of commuters on their way to work. To counter this, the railway department had to divert traffic from Dadar station and some special trains were operated for the Kurla Station. While the police and railway officials were conducting talks with the job aspirants, entire four lines between Matunga and CSMT remained shut.
Furthermore, the BEST also deployed extra buses to ferry the commuters in affected areas including Dadar, Matunga, Sion, Kurla, and others. Not just the localites but even long distance railway passengers were affected in places like Pune, Thane, Phalgar, and Raigad.
The protests were carried out by the activists of the All India Act Apprentice Association (AIAAA) demanding the scraping of 20% quota for direct recruitment and jobs for candidates in all states who have cleared the All India Railway Act Apprentice Exams. The job aspirants shouted slogans and held placards demanding one-time settlement from GM quota and govt jobs.
Some claimed that they had already met Railway Minister Piyush Goyal regarding their demands for jobs but no action was taken. Reportedly one student revealed that there has been no recruitment from the past 4 years and more than 10 candidates have committed suicide.
In an attempt to restore normalcy, police had to resort to lathi charge to which protestors reacted by pelting stones. The students refused to move from the sight and then the top officials had to step in. As per the media reports, the top Central Railway officials and Railway Ministry had to submit a written assurance to the protestors after which the Rail Roko was called off at 10:45 am.
