The State-wide dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the BJP on Friday following the self immolation of a man in the city on Thursday caught commuters off guard and left them stranded.
Scores of commuters were stranded in various parts of the city as KSRTC and private buses remained off the roads. Many of the passengers who had arrived at the Thampanoor Railway station and KSRTC bus terminal had to wait till evening for their onward journey.
“The hartal has caused untold hardship. I arrived here by six in the morning from Guruvayur. I have to reach Madathara and the buses would only start operating from evening. This is the second hartal in a row. They are just making life difficult,” said Farisha, a home nurse.
German tourists Mascha and Jossis found themselves stranded at Kollam on Friday morning until a person offered to drop them in his vehicle at the central railway station here for the onward journey to Delhi.
“Declaring a hartal at such short notice makes it difficult for people. Getting food is also a problem,” says K.Kumaresan, a professor at the Government College, Karyavattom who was waiting to be picked up by a colleague from the Pettah railway station.
‘Some arrangements’
“The State government should have made some arrangements, considering that Thiruvananthapuram figures on the country’s tourist map,” says Mahendra Rao, a filmmaker from Bengaluru who was here for the International Film Festival Kerala.
Senior citizens and passengers with small children faced difficulties waiting at the station. Petrol pumps were also closed, adding to the misery of private vehicle owners. A few autorickshaws and online cab aggregators like Uber and Ola were operating through the city.
There were complaints of autorickshaw drivers fleecing passengers. “We were charged extra money, almost double the rate, to reach the bus station. But we had no other option. This is a pointless hartal, a nuisance for the public”, said M. P Savitha, a native of Mysore.
Four vehicles
The police had arranged four vehicles to help stranded passengers at the railway station go to the Medical College Hospital and airport.
The KSRTC operated buses from Thampanoor to Pampa for Sabarimala pilgrims.
