The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking the resignation of Finance minister K.M. Mani brought life to a standstill in Kochi on Tuesday.
A couple were injured when the bike they were travelling on tripped over bricks laid along the National Highway near Kariyad by activists observing the hartal. Jithu Joseph, 35, of Aroor, and his wife Manju were on the vehicle around 5 a.m. Jithu was seriously injured in the accident and suffered a fractured rib. Police have registered a case in the incident.
Similarly, the protestors reportedly attacked an inter-state truck carrying raw materials for the metro rail works near Aluva. However, no cases have been registered.
All business establishments, including banks and other financial institutions remained shut. Broadway, the hub of commercial activities in the city, remained quiet through hartal hours.
Public transport vehicles and a majority of private vehicles kept off the roads and people who landed in bus and railway stations had a harrowing time, having to wait endlessly for vehicles to take them to their destinations. Among them were foreign and domestic tourists whose travel plans were thrown haywire by the hartal.
Work on all major projects including the Kochi Metro rail came to a standstill at several locations. With fuel bunks remaining closed, motorists who ran out of fuel had to wait till evening for a refill. Goods carriers kept off the road. In Cochin airport, almost all the flights, both domestic and international remained relatively unaffected even as there was a drop in the number of departing passengers owing to the strike. A number of passengers who were scheduled to board flights from here during the day had reached the airport by the previous day itself.
Close to noon, BJP activists led by A.N. Radhakrishana, State general secretary of the party, took out a rally demanding resignation from the minister.
Meanwhile, the Say No To Hartal Campaigners operated dawn-to-dusk services in their own private vehicles at free of cost to help victims of the ‘unconstitutional form of protest’. “We operated a fleet of 35 plus vehicles from different locations of the city, all displaying 'say no to hartal' stickers on them. Most of the passengers were transported during the day were patients, who had reached the city seeking speciality treatment from far away places,” said Ananthu Vasudev, who operated the organisation’s control room.
