Bandh severely impacts transport

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Despite public transport corporation buses continuing their services in the city, the officials said that most of the buses could not operate due to less passengers on Friday.

Bengaluru's busiest areas in the Central business district (CBD) including Church Street, Brigade Road, MG Road, and other areas were completely deserted because of the Karnataka bandh called over the Cauvery water sharing row.

Few people were seen walking on the roads. Usually crowded, the Kempegowda Bus Station on Friday morning wore a deserted look as there were very few passengers at Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus terminals here.

Speaking to News Trail, Traffic Controller Chandrashekhar said that there has been no change in the schedule and routes of buses, but the number of passengers is extremely less.

"Buses are ready to operate but are waiting for passengers," he said. Buses at the City Market bus station were also seen waiting for the passengers.

The KSRTC in a notification said there were only 59.88 per cent bus operations in southern parts of Karnataka. The worst-hit KSRTC divisions in terms of operations were Mysuru and Chamarajanagar. Against the scheduled departure of 447 buses, only seven plied in Mysuru while in Chamarajanagar, eight out of 247 bus services operated.

Mandya, Chikkamagaluru and Bengaluru witnessed 37.25 per cent, 51.49 per cent and 57.39 per cent operations, respectively, against the scheduled departures. Very few auto rickshaws and cabs were seen on the city roads as most of them had supported the bandh.

On the Hosur Road, vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu registration numbers were stopped at the border town of Zuzuvadi. According to sources, around 400 plus buses from various districts in Tamil Nadu are stranded in Hosur as police have prevented them from moving ahead.

Earlier in the morning several groups claiming to be from a Kannada Organization protested at the border, sources added.

Commuters travelling from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka had to cover a distance of 2 kms on foot towards Attibele to change buses, after Tamil Nadu registration vehicles and buses were either asked to return or were stopped at Hosur by the police as a security measure.

According to sources from Bengaluru International Airport, nearly 44 flights were cancelled on Friday owing to the statewide bandh. The airport authorities asserted that the flights were cancelled due to operational reasons and that the passengers were informed about the same in time.

Later in the day, sources added that the cancellations happened due to the effect of the Karnataka bandh since many passengers had cancelled their tickets.

"We cancelled 44 flights today. They include 22 flights to and an equal number of flights from Bengaluru due to the strike," an airport official said.

The BMRCL officials told News Trail that there were no disruptions in the metro services due to the bandh. However they said that the stations recorded very few footfalls on Friday.