Kumar Rajiv Nayan
Ara : Ara bandh in protest supported by Grand Alliance constituents and JAP against alleged irregularities in the results of NTPC-RRB and police atrocities on agitating railways job aspirants evoked mixed response. Bhojpur district administration had made elaborate security arrangement to deal with any ugly situation during the bundh.
The Railways Ministry cancelled several trains and also diverted routes of some others in view of Bihar Bandh. 13305 Dhanbad-Dehari-on-Sone Express, 13306 Dehari-on-Sone Dhanbad Express, 03546 Gaya-Asansole Passenger Speical, and 03553 Asansole-Varanasi Passenger Special trains were cancelled while routes of 12307 Howrah-Jodhpur Express, 12321 Howrah-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja Terminal Express were diverted and now the trains will pass through Jhajha-Patna-Pandit Dindayal Upadhayaya Junction.
Likewise, 12312 Kalka-Howrah Express and 12322 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal-Howrah Express will run through Gaya-Patna-Jhajha and 22824 New Delhi-Bhuvanesshwar, 12314 New Delhi-Siyaldah, and 12302 New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express will go through Pandit Dindayal Upadhayaya Junction-Patna-Jhajha.
The bandh supporters took out processions from different parts of Ara and paraded through main thoroughfares of town and forced business establishments to down their shutters. They also blocked roads at Abarpur, Ambedkar Chowk, Bus Stand, Dhobi Ghatwa, Ara Railway Station, Ara-Patna, Ara-Sasaram, Ara-Mohania main roads since morning, burnt tyres, and paralyzed movements of vehicles since afternoon. They raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar.
CPI-ML MLA from Agiaw, Manoj Manjil, Vice-President, Bihar State Kisan Congress Pramod Rai, former MLA RJD, Anwar Alam and others vehemently condemned anti-student, anti-youth, anti-farmer, and anti-people policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the government was working in favour of corporates like Ambani and Adani.