The protests hit public transport and resulted in damage to more than 150 buses of the BMTC and KSRTC. The losses to both are estimated to be over Rs. 2.7 crore.
Even as thousands of commuters were stuck in traffic jams across the city, protesters set fire to three buses and damaged 84 other buses of the BMTC, forcing the corporation to shut services for more than six hours from 11 a.m.
“It was a bad day. One of the buses is gutted and 36 buses are badly damaged. Replacing the windshield and window glasses alone will cost Rs. 30,000 per bus. The revenue loss will be the range of Rs. 50-60 lakhs,” said Ekroop Caur, Managing Director, BMTC.
KSRTC also took a hit with seven buses torched and 50 buses damaged. It cancelled 1.66 lakh km of trips and lost Rs 60 lakh in revenue besides taking a Rs 1.66 crore hit due to the damage to vehicles.
Commuters were in for a rude shock as the violence prompted BMTC to suspend services across the city for a short while. The situation improved post 4 p.m. in Attibele, Electronics City, Shivajinagar and Yelahanka. However, services in the violence-affected areas were withdrawn for a large part of the day.
Hemalatha, who was waiting at Shivajinagar for a bus to Hebbal, said, “There was a massive traffic jam on my way to office in the morning. We kept hearing that buses had been burnt in the afternoon. I came early to avoid the traffic while returning home, but there were no buses. Services resumed around 5.30 p.m.”
Metro did not stopBMRCL downed shutters in Peenya, Yeshwantpur and Jalahalli to keep protestors out, but did not stop operations. Stone pelting at Dasarahalli resulted in extensive damage to the glass façade and some portions on the ground floor of the station. The number of commuters went up by around 20,000 on Tuesday from the average of 38,700.
