New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) The Northern Railway has suffered losses of over Rs.200 crore ($44 million) due to disruption of rail traffic caused by the Jat community's job quota agitation, said an official here.

"The railways has suffered huge losses worth several crores of rupees per day due to the agitators blocking railway tracks and stopping the trains' movement," a senior Northern Railway official told IANS.

According to the official, the railways was still assessing the quantum of losses suffered during the agitation. The overall losses may be in the range of above Rs.200 crore, as the protests still continue in the states neighbouring the national capital.

Industry experts also concurred that the overall losses suffered by the railways during the Jat reservation agitation has been in the range of Rs.200 crore.

"We are still calculating the losses...if you see there are many kinds of losses not only operational, but also penalties on freight delays that we have to pay," the official said.

The official added that the freight traffic, in particular, has suffered and the transportation of perishables and on-time performance of the railways has been hit severely.

"It always happens, like in the Gujjar agitation (for reservation in Rajasthan). Even at that time, the essential commodities carried by trains got affected, thereby impacting their availability and prices," official added.

Commodities that routinely get affected by the train disruptions include vegetables, milk, coal and petroleum products, whose supply may be affected in the short term.

Industry experts feel that passenger and freight train disruptions in north India will impact local commodity prices with cost of certain perishable products going up. Electricity and fuel shortages may also be faced.

"The overall economic impact of this would be in the range of Rs.200 crore, while due to the disruptions, the commodity prices may go up locally," Vishwas Udgirkar, senior director, Deloitte in India, told IANS.

According to him, the railways has not only suffered quantitative but also qualitative loss with its image as a reliable means of transport being hit due to the increasing frequency of protests stopping train movements.

"Every time people want to protest, they will hit at the most sensitive part of today's life, which includes the railways. The frequencies of such incidents are going up and that is worrisome," he said.

According to officials, 66 trains were cancelled Wednesday, a day after Jat agitators blocked the movement of 71 more trains.

More trouble seems to be in store as the Jat agitators have threatened to block all rail links between the national capital and other cities, including Agra, Kanpur and Ambala, from March 28.

Train disruptions by the agitating Jat community have been frequent in Hisar, Jind and Bhiwani districts of Haryana.

The protests also spread to western parts of Uttar Pradesh, where train services were hit ever since the agitation started March 5. But the state government March 18 removed agitators blocking railway tracks following a court order.