Fourth day of ordeal in a week for commuters

Bandh effect: Outstation passengers fail to get transport to their destinations

Commuters in the city had a harrowing time on Saturday - the fourth day this week - as buses and private vehicles remained off the roads following the Karnataka bandh called by pro-Kannada organisations against the interim order of the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal.

The KSRTC and BMTC buses did not ply since morning. The transport services in the state were affected for three days in the beginning of this week owing to the strike by employees of the state transport corporations.

With private operators also suspending their services thousands of passengers were stranded at the Kempegowda bus terminal and bus stands across the city. A few, however, managed to travel on their own vehicles. Some autorikshaws which were operating, fleeced the helpless travellers asking them to pay more than double the fare.
 
The railway services, however, remained unaffected.  A few protesters marched into the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) railway station at Majestic to disrupt the service. They, however, were stopped by the security personnel.

Passengers reached the city by trains and KSRTC buses in the early morning but did not get connecting city buses to reach their destination. Similar was the plight of the people who came to the city by trains from other states.

Mohit and his friends, who came in train from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, were left in lurch looking for the Hassan-bound buses at Majestic. Mohit told Deccan Herald that they were not aware of the bandh and the officials informed them that the buses were likely to resume operations by evening.

Another, passenger Sangamesh said auto drivers were demanding Rs 1,500 to ferry him from Majestic to Chandapura, around 28-km away. He chose to wait till evening for city buses instead of getting fleeced by the autos.The BMTC and KSRTC had resumed operation by evening.

Metro services stopped, resume after 5 pm

On the day state-wide bandh to protest the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal's interim order, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) partially operated trains on Friday.

Though Metro services commenced, BMRCL had to stop the services after a few agitators created a ruckus at the two metro stations. Services resumed in the evening from 5.

BMRCL chief public relations officer U A Vasanth Rao said: ``A group of 30 people bought tokens and entered the platform at Mysuru Road Metro station and started shouting slogans demanding stoppage of trains. In order to prevent any damage to the train and also to ensure safety and security of other commuters, train services were stopped,’’ he said.

Train services that commenced at Sampige Road to Nagasandra as usual from 5 am, were stopped after 6.15 am due to an agitation. Hence, services were suspended on both the lines, Vasanth Rao said.

As the situation calmed down later in the day, regular train services resumed from 5 pm. “There was a train for every 20 minutes on the Purple Line and the Green Line saw a train at a frequency of 15 minutes. The frequency was later increased to 10 minutes,” according to BMRCL sources.