The State-wide hartal sponsored by the Left Democratic Front calling for a ban on Endosulfan was total in the district, with no incidents of violence reported.
No service was operated from the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) depots at Alappuzha, Cherthala, Kayamkulam and Mavelikara. Private buses too kept off the roads while boat services of the State Water Transport Department from Alappuzha to Kavalam, Nedumudi, Kottayam, Krishnapuram and other interior regions were also affected.
Business establishments too remained closed till dusk, with a few shops inside the Alappuzha Railway Station being the only source of even bottled drinking water quite a number of tourists who had arrived in the tourist town and the public .
From morning, two-wheelers were seen plying on the roads, some of them offering lifts to stranded travellers and tourists.
Minor violence
A Correspondent writes from Kattappana:
The State-wide hartal organised by the Left Democratic Front on Friday was total and peaceful in the district, barring minor incidents of violence in Thodupuzha and Kundala, near Devikulam.
Only a few buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation conducted services from the Kattappana depot. Two-wheelers and private vehicles plied.
Business establishments and shops remained closed; workers in the estate areas also participated in the hartal.
At Thodupuzha, hartal supporters attacked the cameraman of India Vision and Manorama TV, who were shooting the images of hartal supporters forcibly shutting down shops in the town.
The Thodupuzha police said that cases had been registered against four persons in this connection. However, they said that it was only a minor incident and the accused were arrested immediately.
At Kundala, the glasses of a doctor's car were destroyed by the hartal supporters. The doctor was on his way to attend a patient.
The workers in the plantation areas where Endosulfan is allegedly being used supported the hartal totally. The taxis that carry workers to the estate areas on the border did not ply.
In Munnar and Kumily, only a few private vehicles and taxis plied and the towns wore a deserted look. The main hotels and business shops also remained closed.
