In the past few years Thane and the areas beyond it have seen massive housing development. The population in these areas has increased considerably but the means of transport haven't. The trains are the lifelines of these areas. So a technical snag resulting in a delay is enough to inflame the tempers of passengers on these routes.
On January 2, when a pantograph on a Badlapur-CST local broke in the morning and trains were delayed by two hours, the anger of commuters soon took the form of a rail roko and then vandalisation of public property. In a counter-productive move, the commuters slept on the tracks to demand that the trains start on time.
This is not the first time that a train delay has resulted in a passenger protest.
On December 3, a mob staged a rail roko at Diva station over the removal of a Dr B R Ambedkar hoarding in Thane. On November 19, women commuters at Dombivli staged a rail roko as the trains were not running on time and there were no proper announcements made about this.
Why is the rail roko so common as a mode of protest in parts beyond Thane? According to experts this stems from social, economic and political reasons. "In the last 10-15 years, vast numbers of Mumbaikars have migrated to Kalyan and beyond. The number is increasing day by day as buying a home is quite expensive in Mumbai," said Madhu Kotian, president, Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh. "These people, who are from the lower middle class, labour class and the poor, come to Mumbai for work," he said.
Though these areas have a burgeoning population there are only two lines- Karjat and Kasara- beyond Kalyan. So when these lines get affected the life and livelihood of these residents comes to a standstill. "These people number in the lakhs and stay beyond Kalyan. There is no parallel transportation and they are totally dependent on railways," he said. He added that most of the working class is employed in the municipal corporations of Mumbai, Thane and other service-oriented government organisations. "So one day of train problems costs them a day's worth of salary. They commute for over 3-4 hours each day to reach their workplace. So they become violent as they not only lose their working day but even their time, as they have to go back," he added.
Kotian felt the railways was blind to their problems. "While railways continues to neglect these problems, the population is still migrating. But there is no infrastructure development," he added.
Another reason, said P G Jogdand, head of sociology department, Mumbai University, is that in areas beyond Thane there is no fear of the law. "Beyond a point people become unruly and indisciplined. They can do anything and get away with it. After Thane, there is no control of police on the people whereas in Mumbai there is some," said Jogdand. "These people should understand that they do not have any other mode of transport and so they should not destroy public transport," he said. Jogdand also felt that the local politicians instigate violence.
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