This Article is From Jan 19, 2015

Nearly 600 Truck Drivers Clash With Cops Near Navi Mumbai, Police Vehicle Torched

Eight people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Mumbai: Nearly 600 truck drivers in a village in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai clashed with police near the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on Sunday in Sonari village in Navi Mumbai's Uran. Twenty eight people have been arrested.

A police vehicle was torched and five policemen were injured. One of them was an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

The violence was triggered by an argument that broke out between the truck drivers and police. The police were called to the area to control the agitating drivers.

The local police say the situation is tense but under control.

"Our priority is to clear the road. We do not want to escalate the situation. We are trying to contact the truck drivers who have run away from the spot," Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner KL Prasad told NDTV.

Agitating truckers have been on the road for the last three days after a slowdown at the GTI terminal as the workers were having a dispute over wages with the management.

Senior police inspector Rajesh Dewre told NDTV, "We suspect some angry truck drivers were behind the incident. They may have been drunk too. We have sent them for medical tests."

State Reserve Police Force and the Rapid Action Force personnel are at the spot. Police officers too held a meeting with port officials to bring an end to the impasse as soon as possible.
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