Rail-Roko agitation for separate Vidarbha at Nagpur

Protesters seeking statehood for the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra staged a `Rail-Roko'

(railway blockade) agitation here on Tuesday. The budget session of the Maharashtra legislature is

currently underway in Mumbai. Protesters gathered at Manish Nagar railway crossing

under the banner of the Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti (VRAS). They shouted slogans demanding separate Vidarbha state

and also reduction in power tariff in the region. Some of them were detained by the police before being

released. In a press release, VRAS demanded that the BJP fulfill

its promise of creating a separate state of Vidarbha. The Samiti had called for a shut-down across Vidarbha

on May 1, it said.