Rail, road traffic hit in Bihar during shutdown

Rail and road traffic were disrupted across Bihar on Monday as opposition parties observed a nationwide shutdown called by the Congress to protest the rising prices of petrol and diesel.

The shutdown received support from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Left parties and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).

Hundreds of Congress workers and leaders, along with supporters of other opposition parties, took to the streets in different parts of the state from early Monday morning.

More than a dozen long-distance trains were stopped at railway stations in Patna, Gaya, Bhojpur, Jehanabad, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur, affecting rail services.

Protesters also blocked roads at several locations and burnt tyres as part of the agitation. They raised slogans against the Central government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Additional security personnel were deployed across the state to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident.

However, no major incident of violence was reported from anywhere in Bihar.