Just in: A BEST bus has been pelted with stones at Chembur naka, and the tyre of a taxi was deflated. Passengers have been asked to get off the bus but the situation is largely under control. The police have moved in and are taking control.


A colleague who took an Uber from Thane to the Rediff.com office in Mahim said that there was heavy police bandobast all along Eastern Express highway with much fewer cars on the road. Absolutely no road blocks or rasta rokos along the entire stretch. There was particularly heavy police bandobast near Amar Mahal flyover which is where there were instances of violence by Dalits yesterday.


The rail roko protests at Thane, Goregaon and Virar stations have also ended a while ago and train services have resumed.

However, Thane Municipal Transport had stopped bus services across Thane city in the morning. Autorickshaws which were completely off the roads in the morning are now plying, but not if full force. Shops in parts of Mumbai have been forced to down shutters fearing violence.


Riot control police have been kept on standby across Mumbai and 30 companies of the CRPF have been deployed. There are stray incidents of violence across the city, so unless you have to leave home, don't.


Today's Class 11 exams at St Xavier's College in South Mumbai have been cancelled, college authorities said.

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader and Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar have called for Maharashtra bandh today to protest the state government's "failure" to stop the violence at Bhima Koregaon village in Pune district two days ago.


Ambedkar alleged that Hindu Ekta Aghadi was responsible for the violence.
He said Maharashtra Democratic Front, Maharashtra Left Front and some 250 other organisations have supported the call for shutdown.

While the state government clarified that it hasn't declared a school holiday, bus operators said they won't run school buses in Mumbai today. "We can't risk students' safety and security. Will take a second decision at 11 am if we can run them in the second half, depending on the situation," a School Bus Owners' Association spokesperson said.


Image: RPI protesters at NM Joshi Marg in central Mumbai.