After stir by Mumbai commuters, top rly officer transferred

Hours after protest by passengers at suburban Badlapur station disrupted services this morning, Railway Ministry shunted out Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Amitabh Ojha.
Ojha, DRM of Mumbai division of Central Railway (CR), was transferred following the agitation at Badlapur and he has been replaced with Ravindra Goyal, a top source in Central Railway said this evening.
Goyal was DRM of Bilaspur division.
Meanwhile, BJP MP from North East Mumbai Kirit Somaiya had separate meetings with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Akhil Agrawal, the newly-appointed General Manager of CR, and discussed problems being faced by suburban passengers.
"I apprised Railway Minister as well as the GM of Central Railway about the unprofessional approach of DRM of Mumbai Division and demanded his ouster. The DRM has now been shunted out," Somaiya told PTI.

He said Agrawal presented an action plan to resolve the problems being faced by suburban passengers.

Earlier in the morning, suburban rail services were disrupted after irate commuters protesting train delay blocked tracks at Badlapur in neighbouring Thane district.
The commuters started protesting after a level-crossing gate signal caused a delay in suburban services of CR by over 20 minutes.
The enraged commuters barged into the Station Master's office and demanded immediate action to resolve the issue.
Later, they jumped on tracks at Badlapur, stalling the movement of trains on the Central Line, which runs between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Khopoli. The protest led to bunching of trains on the suburban route.

Following the protest, Prabhu directed senior Railway officers to look into the matter.
Due to the stir, 34 train were cancelled fully, while 12 were partially affected during morning peak hours.
Maharashtra Minister Ravindra Chavan and Ojha, along with senior Railway officers, visited the protest site and helped bring the situation under control.