The day-long nationwide motor vehicle strike called by road transport unions against the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill and the continuous rise in prices of petroleum products in effect turned into a hartal in the district for those without own vehicles.
While private vehicles had a smooth ride all through the day, with the strike supporters not bothering to stop them, the entire public transport network, except Kochi metro services, stayed off, leaving travelling public with a horrid time. Cargo movement to and from the district was hit. However, shops and establishments functioned as usual.
Private buses, autorickshaws, and taxis stayed off the road. The situation further worsened as KSRTC employees also joined the strike in a show of solidarity, completely throwing off the public sector behemoth’s daily service schedules.
With even the services of online taxi aggregators getting disrupted, travelling public was literally left with no options. People alighted at railway stations had a tough time as prepaid counters of autorickshaws and taxis wore a deserted look. The only mode of transport available for passengers from railway stations was the service operated by the Kerala Police along the major city routes. The State Water Transport Department operated all its services without fail in keeping with the trying situation in Kuttanad and the decision was followed in the district as well. However, services were curtailed later on the day because of paucity of passengers. Ro-ro service was also operated though at lesser frequency as there were only few vehicles to avail of the service.
Schools and other educational institutions remained closed while government offices recorded very low attendance. Out of the 84 offices at the Civil Station, only 67 were opened though only very few employees turned up. Most of the offices were closed by afternoon as the staff chose to leave early. The Collectorate recorded better attendance rate as 88 out of the 165 employees reported for duty.
The strike, however, had little effect on the functioning of Infopark as the majority of employees there use private vehicles.
