Pro-Vidarbha activists halt train near Nagpur

NAGPUR - The old demand for carving out a separate state of Vidarbha from Maharashtra was intensified Monday when some activists stopped the Vidarbha Express near here.

According to a Central Railway official, around 200 activists of the Youth Front halted the Mumbai-Nagpur Vidarbha Express on the outskirts of the state’s second capital Nagpur by lying down across the railway tracks.

Railway authorities summoned the police who dispersed the protesters and the train proceeded on its onward journey after a delay of around 15 minutes.

“There was no violence of any kind or any damage due to the train-stopping incident,” a railway official told IANS.

At the same time, a few pro-Vidarbha legislators resorted to raising slogans for a separate state during the ongoing winter session of the state legislature here. Several pro-Vidarbha activists also demonstrated outside the assembly.

Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) leader Kishor Tiwari said the struggle has been going on since 1958 for the region’s development and progress of over 2.8 crore people living here.

“The region has been exploited by successive state governments for its rich natural resources. While the rest of the state has progressed, Vidarbha is among the most backward regions in the country,” Said Tiwari.