Travellers face trouble as city shuts down for bandh

BHUBANESWAR: With public transport completely shut down, travellers had a harrowing time in the Capital City during the dawn-to-dusk bandh called by BJP and Congress over the death of Kunduli gangrape victim.

People were stranded at Bhubaneswar railway station and Biju Patnaik International Airport for several hours as auto-rickshaws, cabs and city buses were off roads.

About six Russian nationals arrived here in the morning to visit an ashram in Puri and attend a marriage but were stuck due to the bandh. “We can not move out because shuttle vehicles are not available. We have asked our friend in Puri to arrange a car,” Russian tourist Alena said.

Another Russian tourist Aleksei who was visiting the City was clueless as how to reach the airport to catch his flight to Mumbai. “I requested a friend to drop me on a two-wheeler,” he added.

Rahul Kumar, an Income Tax department officer, who arrived from New Delhi to proceed to Kuala Lumpur via Bhubaneswar, found no food at the airport as the canteen was shut. “I can not go out and eat due to non-availability of public transport,” he said.

Hundreds of candidates who had come in from various parts of the State to appear for Staff Selection Commission (SSC) too faced a tough time. “We had applied for the examination about two months back. We had our test today and reached Bhubaneswar in the morning.

However, arranging a vehicle to reach the examination centres looks difficult,” Shankar Barada of Rourkela said. Barada was supposed to appear for the examination in the second sitting at Janla on the outskirts of the city.

Similar was the plight of women and children. The travellers were angry with the political parties for calling a bandh in such a short notice. Members of an NGO arrived at the airport hours before their scheduled flight time as they were apprehensive that they might not be able to reach due to protests. “We had booked a train from Balasore but boarded an overnight bus after learning about the bandh. We reached here at 5:30 am,” Chakradhar Rout said.

The demonstrators protested by burning tyres at Rupali Square, AG Square, Khandagiri, CRPF Square, among others. Some protestors also blocked the road near Rasulgarh and  attempted to vandalise trucks and auto-rickshaws on the NH near Baramunda due to absence of the city police there.

Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said about 25 platoons police force were deployed in the City. “The demonstrators were detained from some parts of the city for protesting aggressively,” the DCP said. Several demonstrators were detained from different places for protesting, he added