Mixed response to Bhojpur bandh call

ARA: The Bhojpur bandh called by the ‘Vyavsayik Sangharsh Morcha’ on Wednesday to protest the mining policy of the government evoked mixed response.
While almost all schools remained closed, movement of trains was also disrupted for about two hours after the Sampurna Kranti Express was stopped at Jamira railway halt by bandh supporters.
The bandh supporters alleged that the faulty mining policy of the state government has led to acute scarcity of sand.Many masons, daily wage workers, traders, transporters, brick kiln owners and tractor owners are on the verge of starvation. Many of them are even compelled to migrate in search of livelihood.
A procession was also taken out by the Morcha members from Ramna Maidan which passed through the main thoroughfares of the town requesting the shopkeepers to extend their support to the bandh.
Sources said that early in the morning, a large number of agitating daily wage labourers and masons who have been rendered jobless due to slump in construction work, joined the bandh supporters and stopped the Sampurna Kranti Express on the down line at the Jamira halt, near Ara station. A goods train on the up line was also stopped for a couple of hours from 9 am to 11 am affecting movement of trains on Ara-Delhi and Ara-Howrah route, said a source at Ara station and Jamira halt.
The major impact of the bandh call was seen on shops selling construction materials. While shops selling cement, iron rods and stone chips remained completely shut, brick kilns, tractor owners and transporters engaged in delivering construction materials also supported the bandh call.
Addressing the bandh supporters, Morcha members Anjani Kumar Choudhary, Umesh Singh, Alok Ranjan, Jeetendra Singh, Sanjeev Kumar and others demanded the state government to ensure smooth and unhindered supply of sand in the district.