<div align="justify">More than one lakh Namma Metro commuters were stranded as trains did not run for seven hours on Friday.<br /><br />Trouble had been brewing since Thursday, following a fracas between a policeman and Metro staffers at the Central College station, and it resulted in the first-ever disruption of Metro services, in any Indian city, because of a strike. <br /><br />Employees of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) began protesting on Thursday evening, and hadn’t resumed work till 11.30 am on Friday.<br /><br />They returned only when the state government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act, which provides for the arrest and imprisonment of employees blocking essential public services.<br /><br />Bengaluru Development Minister K J George told DH the government had invoked the law for the first time, and hoped it would serve as a warning to all employees of state-run transport corporations not to make people suffer.<br /><br />The disruption is unprecedented in the history of metro rail services in India: even 20-day-long protests in Delhi and Kolkata had not affected train services. Namma Metro, which touched a daily ridership of 3.5 lakh recently, carries more than one lakh people from 5 am to 10 am. <br /><br />Waiting since 5 am<br /><br />Many were stuck at the stations for hours as the train services, usually beginning at 5 am, did not come to life. On Friday, commuters had to make last-minute arrangements to get to office and reach other destinations.<br /><br />This led to traffic congestion all along the Metro routes. It also had a cascading effect on traffic movement in the central part of the city as people took out personal vehicles or hailed cabs and autos. <br />The BMTC deployed more than 200 additional buses to clear the rush.<br /><br />“The worst thing was lack of information. No security staff at the stations knew about the strike. I thought it was a technical glitch and waited for nearly an hour,” Madhusudhan Hegde, a commuter at the Rajajinagar station, said.<br /><br />Late-night talks<br /><br />A BMRCL official said managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola met protesters at 4 am to convince them to end their dharna.<br /><br />“It was an emotional issue. The staffers were protesting peacefully and claimed they were threatened by KSISF personnel. They also wanted the release of a station controller who was arrested though he was not involved in the scuffle,” he said.<br /><br />Kharola confirmed he had spoken for a long time to persuade employees to resume operations. “This is an unprecedented event. We are holding internal meetings... We will take steps to ensure that such events are not repeated. I cannot share more details at this time,” he said.<div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Trouble on the tracks<br /><br />What caused it?<br /><br />On Thursday, a policeman attached to the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force slapped a Metro employee on the escalator at the Central College station. A few minutes later, a group of Metro employees retaliated by raining blows on the policeman. The fracas snowballed into an overnight protest by the Metro staff.<br /><br />Who suffered?<br /><br />Students, office-goers and a host of others waiting to use the Metro in the morning. The trains resumed only at noon. Bengaluru Development Minister K J George was among those who had planned to take the Metro on Friday.<br /><br />What did commuters do?<br /><br />People waited for hours at the stations, with no clue about the strike. Eventually, they took buses, autos and cabs. Many brought out their personal vehicles.<br /><br />How did BMTC respond?<br /><br />It deployed 200 extra buses. A senior official said it had earned an additional Rs 4 lakh on Friday.<br /> </div></div>
<div align="justify">More than one lakh Namma Metro commuters were stranded as trains did not run for seven hours on Friday.<br /><br />Trouble had been brewing since Thursday, following a fracas between a policeman and Metro staffers at the Central College station, and it resulted in the first-ever disruption of Metro services, in any Indian city, because of a strike. <br /><br />Employees of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) began protesting on Thursday evening, and hadn’t resumed work till 11.30 am on Friday.<br /><br />They returned only when the state government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act, which provides for the arrest and imprisonment of employees blocking essential public services.<br /><br />Bengaluru Development Minister K J George told DH the government had invoked the law for the first time, and hoped it would serve as a warning to all employees of state-run transport corporations not to make people suffer.<br /><br />The disruption is unprecedented in the history of metro rail services in India: even 20-day-long protests in Delhi and Kolkata had not affected train services. Namma Metro, which touched a daily ridership of 3.5 lakh recently, carries more than one lakh people from 5 am to 10 am. <br /><br />Waiting since 5 am<br /><br />Many were stuck at the stations for hours as the train services, usually beginning at 5 am, did not come to life. On Friday, commuters had to make last-minute arrangements to get to office and reach other destinations.<br /><br />This led to traffic congestion all along the Metro routes. It also had a cascading effect on traffic movement in the central part of the city as people took out personal vehicles or hailed cabs and autos. <br />The BMTC deployed more than 200 additional buses to clear the rush.<br /><br />“The worst thing was lack of information. No security staff at the stations knew about the strike. I thought it was a technical glitch and waited for nearly an hour,” Madhusudhan Hegde, a commuter at the Rajajinagar station, said.<br /><br />Late-night talks<br /><br />A BMRCL official said managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola met protesters at 4 am to convince them to end their dharna.<br /><br />“It was an emotional issue. The staffers were protesting peacefully and claimed they were threatened by KSISF personnel. They also wanted the release of a station controller who was arrested though he was not involved in the scuffle,” he said.<br /><br />Kharola confirmed he had spoken for a long time to persuade employees to resume operations. “This is an unprecedented event. We are holding internal meetings... We will take steps to ensure that such events are not repeated. I cannot share more details at this time,” he said.<div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Trouble on the tracks<br /><br />What caused it?<br /><br />On Thursday, a policeman attached to the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force slapped a Metro employee on the escalator at the Central College station. A few minutes later, a group of Metro employees retaliated by raining blows on the policeman. The fracas snowballed into an overnight protest by the Metro staff.<br /><br />Who suffered?<br /><br />Students, office-goers and a host of others waiting to use the Metro in the morning. The trains resumed only at noon. Bengaluru Development Minister K J George was among those who had planned to take the Metro on Friday.<br /><br />What did commuters do?<br /><br />People waited for hours at the stations, with no clue about the strike. Eventually, they took buses, autos and cabs. Many brought out their personal vehicles.<br /><br />How did BMTC respond?<br /><br />It deployed 200 extra buses. A senior official said it had earned an additional Rs 4 lakh on Friday.<br /> </div></div>
