Trains stopped, roads blocked
The city witnessed a mixed response to the bandh call given for Wednesday by different organisations including, BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal, and Hindu Jagran Manch following Tuesday's bomb blast in Varanasi which took a toll of several human lives and pressed panic button in the State.
The anger amongst the above organisations spilled on the city roads this morning as they came out in groups at different places to organise road blocks in protest against killings in Varanasi and against those who set of the serial blasts.
They also tried to stop the Pawan Express, squatted on the tracks at the Prayag railway station and stopped a goods train in Daraganj.
While most of the markets with mixed population remained closed others dominated by a particular community remained open. In Rajapur heated arguments took place following the attempt by some organisations to get the shops closed. Similar reports of heated arguments were received from some other places also.
BJP activists burnt the effigy of Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Hindu Hostel crossing and stopped the movement of heavy vehicles for about two and a half hours. As a result traffic was thrown out of gear and long queues of trucks were seen stranded on both sides of the road. This road blockade also created a lot of inconvenience for the general commuters. It also affected the movement of vehicles on the GT road as the same goes through the city to join the highway near Chaufatka. The activists were led by Praveen Srivastava. The Alopi Bagh crossing also witnessed a big road blockade which disrupted the movement of vehicles for several hours.
Activists of Hindu Jagran Manch led by Neeraj Dwivedi moved to Bajrang crossing after getting shops closed in Bharadwajpuram. Here they burnt the effigy of CM Mulayam Singh Yadav and raised slogans against him. From here they moved on to Daraganj. Here they forced closure of shops and moved towards Alopi Bagh crossing to stage road blockade. Earlier they stopped a goods train at Daraganj but were forced by the police to abandon their attempt. Their attempt to stop the Pawan Express at Junction station was also foiled by the police.
{{/usCountry}}Activists of Hindu Jagran Manch led by Neeraj Dwivedi moved to Bajrang crossing after getting shops closed in Bharadwajpuram. Here they burnt the effigy of CM Mulayam Singh Yadav and raised slogans against him. From here they moved on to Daraganj. Here they forced closure of shops and moved towards Alopi Bagh crossing to stage road blockade. Earlier they stopped a goods train at Daraganj but were forced by the police to abandon their attempt. Their attempt to stop the Pawan Express at Junction station was also foiled by the police.
{{/usCountry}}After this they converged at the Royal Hotel in Civil Lines and held a meeting to condole the death of innocents persons who became victim of terrorist attack in Varanasi. The victims were all devotees but were killed by the enemies of humanity, they observed. The activists also observed a two- minute silence to mourn the deaths.