The auto-rickshaw stand where the clash broke out on Monday. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, June 3: Enraged over the death of an auto-rickshaw driver Jitendra Singh, who was killed in a police firing outside Tatanagar railway station yesterday, auto-rickshaw drivers staged a road blockade at East Plant bustee today bringing traffic to a grinding halt on the Sakchi-Burmamines route for more than nine hours.

The agitation by auto-rickshaw drivers was supported by the residents of East Plant Bustee (where the victim lived) and a few political parties, including the Samata Party and the Jharkhand Yuva Morcha. The protesters were demanding a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job for the victim’s wife.

The auto-rickshaw drivers and the residents started gathering at East Plant bustee crossing from 8 am. They were later joined by leaders from various political parties, who also echoed the same demands. The blockade finally took place from 10 am as the protesters put up a large tent on the middle of the road.

The police from Burmamines, Golmuri and Sakchi rushed to the spot. Big boulders were placed on the road to stall traffic. The police were later forced to divert traffic through the RD Tata School and NML crossings. As the protesters refused to budge, executive magistrate Raj Kumar Gupta was sent to negotiate with the demonstrators. But, repeated requests failed to lift the blockade.

The blockade was withdrawn in the evening when deputy superintendent of police Praveen Srivastav reached the spot and convinced them to lift the blockade.

Earlier, auto-rickshaw drivers damaged window panes of private buses at Sakchi, Sonari and Kadma to stop them from plying as the association members had also requested private buses to stay off the road. However, after an initial lay off, buses plied normally.

The victim’s family had refused to accept the body that was brought to his residence at East Plant Bustee late last night demanding compensation. It was sent back to the Tata Main Hospital where it was kept till today.

Commuters were stranded auto-rickshaws went off the road for the second consecutive day today. The district president of Rashtriya Janata Dal, Onkarnath Jaiswal, condemned yesterday’s police firing on auto-rickshaw drivers outside Tatanagar railway station. Addressing reporters, he said the district administration should ensure adequate compensation for the kin of the firing victim.

According to sources in the district administration, deputy commissioner Nidhi Khare has released Rs 500 for the last rites of the victim tomorrow. The Educated Unemployed Autorickshaw Drivers’ Association, who were protesting the alleged illegal collection of parking fees from the autorickshaw drivers of railway station by parking contractor Upendra Singh demanded immediate cancellation of the licence of the parking stand.

When contacted a Samajwadi Party leader Feroz Khan said that the

auto-rickshaws would be off roads even tomorrow as the family of the

deceased auto-rickshaw driver has not been compensated as per demand.

``We would resort to tough tactics in future if the district

administration fails to pay compensation as we have demanded,'' he

addded.

Khan said that their association always functions for providing comfort

and hassel-free ride to the people. ``We are not happy over the

inconvenience faced by the people who travel in auto-rickshaws. The

district administration should pay attention to the problems faced by

the auto-rickshaw drivers otherwise similar situation would continue to

prevail in the city,'' he added.

Railway passengers were the worst sufferers as not a single

auto-rickshaw ran in the city. Most of the passengers had to cancel

their reservations and several others had to catch other modes of

transport to reach the railway station. Private taxi operators did brisk

business from commuters.

Sources in the chief booking supervisor's office at the Tatanagar

railway station revealed that the auto-rickshaw driver's strike took a

toll on railways as there was a drop in the sale of train ticket due to

scant presence of passengers. ``The sale of ticket for Steel Express,

Tata-Alleppy and Geetanjali Express has considerably come down during

the last two days,'' said an official posted at the chief booking

supervisor's office.

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