IANS

Thane (Maharashtra), Apr 11: Traffic on the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway was severely hit Saturday afternoon following a blockade by several thousand villagers of the Vasai region who revived their agitation demanding de-linking of 53 villages from the Virar-Vasai Municipal Corporation (VVMC).

The agitators were led by the Vasai legislator Vivek Pandit and they succeeded in disrupting traffic on the highway for over two hours.

Thane police said the situation had started limping back to normalcy only by evening, with long queues of vehicles lined up on both sides of the highway.

The worst-hit were the early holiday crowds and those going for a weekend break, who were stranded for over more than four hours in the scorching summer heat.

Pandit, an independent legislator backed by the Shiv Sena, told mediapersons that the state government's decision to exclude only 35 villages from the VVMC was not acceptable to them.

"We want even the remaining 18 villages to be de-linked from the VVMC and until the state government concedes to our demand, the agitation will continue," he said.

The 53 villages have a population of around 60,000, comprising of mostly poor tribals and farmers.

Unlike last month, the police Saturday handled the situation with restraint and politely urged the agitators to call off the blockade of one of the most important inter-state highways in Maharashtra.

Pandit was also detained briefly but he demanded that he should be arrested. He was at the police station and is expected to be placed under formal arrest later Saturday evening, a source said.

On March 5 Pandit's agitation had resulted in violence in which several public and private vehicles were torched.

Police had resorted to caning to control the agitators and the situation was brought under control only after Chief Minister Ashok Chavan directly intervened.

Pandit, who had undertaken an indefinite hunger strike, called it off after Chavan assured that his demands would be met.

Later, during the ongoing session of Maharashtra legislature, the state government announced that 35 villages would be de-linked from VVMC but the fate of the remaining 18 villages remained uncertain.

A month later, Pandit's social organisation, Shramjeevin Sanghatana, has revived the agitation seeking the de-linking of the remaining 18 villages from the VVMC.