Mango bus terminus in Jamshedpur wears a deserted look on Thursday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Patna, May 15: Maoists blew up a portion of railway tracks between Jaimurti Nagar and Ghodasan stations on the Raxaul-Sitamarhi section of East Central Railway during the 24-hour north Bihar bandh today.

The bandh was called to protest against the arrest of Naxalite leader Rampravesh Baitha here on May 9.

Police said that the rebels detonated dynamites blowing up tracks on a 15ft stretch near Jaimurti Nagar station, about 200km from here, around 5 this morning disrupting railway traffic on the section for hours.

Railway officials said that engineers and workers had been pressed into service to repair the tracks and restore traffic.

The police said that with an exception to the “stray incident of blasting railway tracks”, the Maoist bandh remained by and large peaceful with police on “high alert” across the state.

In the wake of serial blasts in Jaipur, security has been stepped up which have also acted against the rebels.

Additional director-general of police (law and order) Anil Kumar Sinha said: “The bandh was peaceful. We have put the police stations across the state on maximum alert”