Cadres of Youth Congress stage rail roko

Cadres from the Youth Congress staged a rail roko on Tuesday demanding that the Centre roll back the rail fare hike immediately.

Later around 40 of them were arrested by the police.

The Union Railway Minister had announced that the rail fare hike would come into force from Wednesday.

Condemning the sudden hike, the Youth Congress leaders and cadre assembled near the Old Bus stand and took out a march led by Youth Congress President Ilayaraja to the Puducherry Railway Station. Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee president A.V.Subramanian, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V.Vaithilingam and party MLA Laxmi Narayanan and others also took part in the procession.

As the police stopped them from proceeding, they walked into Vanrampet Railway gate where they blockaded the tracks. As a result, a train coming from Chennai, at that time was detained at the approach to the station for some time.

Some activists even clambered into the loco pilot’s cabin while others settled down on the track.

For about 10 minutes the activists raised slogans against the Union Government and demanded the roll back of rail fare hike. Ilayaraja, Youth Congress president said at no time in the last 10 years had the rail fare been increased so steeply.