By IANS,
Ranchi: More than 1,000 people were arrested in Jharkhand Monday during an opposition-sponsored strike against rising fuel prices that closed down schools and shops and hit road and railway services.
Long-route buses went off the roads and trains were stopped in Giridih and Dhanbad among other places, inconveniencing the commuters. As a precaution, schools in almost all districts were closed. Most shops were also shut.
In Ranchi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) activists enforced the strike. Many burnt tyres on the main roads of the state capital.
Former chief minister and BJP national general secretary Arjun Munda and more than 300 workers were arrested and released later. In Dhanbad and Deoghar, BJP Lok Sabha MPs – P.N. Singh and Nishikant Dubey – were arrested along with hundreds of party workers.
‘More than 1,300 strike supporters, a majority of whom belong to BJP and JD-U, have been arrested from different parts of the state,” a police spokesperson told IANS.
Mining activities were affected.
Left parties also joined the strike while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) extended ‘moral support’.