Bihar bandh: 3,000 arrested; rail, road services hit

Nearly 3,000 persons, including Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad and his Lok Janshakti Party counterpart Ramvilas Paswan were arrested during a 24-hour Bihar bandh on Monday which hit rail and road services in the state and witnessed stray incidents of stone pelting.

RJD president Lalu Prasad and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan who took out protest marches in the state capital in Patna were arrested, police sources said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist and RJD workers pelted stones on the Shramjeevi Express at Biharsharif station injuring the driver, a report from Nalanda said.

A Madhubani report said that protestors halted the Saheed Express.

In Darbhanga, protestors pelted stones at the Raiyan police station leading to damage to a few vehicles.

The movement of long distance trains at Leharisarai station was also affected.

In Gaya, police lathi-charged RJD, CPI and LJP workers who were forcing closure of shops in the markets, police said.

In Madhubani a few RJD and LJP workers forced shopkeepers to down shutters.

Government and private offices and banks were open in the state capital, while schools were closed as a precautionary measure.

The majority of state transport buses did not run fearing violence.

A seriously ill person who was being taken to hospital died because the ambulance was held up in a traffic jam, a Samastipur report said.

East Central Railway Zone, CPRO, Amitabh Prabhakar said that nearly 27 trains, including long-distance ones, were stranded at different places like Jehanabad, Sheikhpura, Darbhanga and Madhubani.

Sources in the state police headquarters said of the 3,000 arrests, 644 was were made in Patna.

The sources said large-scale arrests were also reported from Nalanda the home district of the chief minister.

This is the first major protest by opposition parties against the Nitish Kumar government which was re-elected with a thumping majority in 2010.

"Nitish has become a hatyara (killer)," Prasad said.

He said the NDA government which made tall claims but failed to fulfill its promises and was now facing the people's wrath.

Seeking the resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for deteriorating in law and order in the state, Paswan, who arrived in the morning from London, said he would visit Madhubani on Tuesday.

Youth Congress president Lalan Kumar said party workers made people aware about the 'mis-governance' by the NDA coalition government.

The ruling Janata Dal-United and Bharatiya Janata Party criticised the opposition parties for indulging in violence in the name of a bandh.

The shutdown was called by CPI-ML,CPI and CPI(M) with RJD, LJP and Congress supporting it was against Saturday's Madhubani police firing in which two persons died and also against deteriorating law and order in the state.

The police fired on demonstrators at Jainagar in the district protesting the abduction and killing of a school student Prashant Kumar last month.