Commuters in the city faced a hard time as thousands of auto-rickshaws, the lifeline of public transport stayed off the road on Tuesday, in response to the the one-day strike called by All India Coordination Committee of Road Transport Workers’ organisations and CITU opposing the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill.
The transportation of goods also took a backseat as thousands of lorries and tankers also joined the strike.
Right from office-goers to students, all had to suffer in the absence of autos and the day-long drizzle added to their woes. The commuters were seen waiting at the bus stops and the RTC buses were jam-packed. Owing to the absence of lorries and autos, the vehicular traffic turned out to be thin on the national highway.
“The number of those waiting at the bus stops almost went up four-fold,” said a teacher, adding that he had to struggle hard to reach his school from Pendurthi.
Even in the evening, plying of auto-rickshaws were stopped at some places, leaving the commuters with no alternatives but to rely on RTC buses.
Windfall for RTC
Apart from the regular services of around 660 buses, the RTC ran an additional 22 services to cater to the needs of the commuters.
“The day’s revenue has increased by ₹6 lakh to ₹7 lakh,” said APSRTC Regional Manager (Visakhapatnam) G. Sudesh Kumar.
“Making drivers responsible for accidents, cancellation of licence, seizing the vehicle and jail-term would make the life of drivers difficult,” CITU and AITUC leaders who took out a rally from the GVMC said in support of auto drivers.
Around 40,000 autos participated in the strike, they said. R.K.S.V. Kumar, M. Jaggu Naidu, S.K. Rehaman and G. Vamana Murthy deplored the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill. At least 8,000 vehicles, including lorries, trailers, pick-up vans and mini vans and etc that operate in the city alone, came to a halt owing to the strike, according to District Motor Transport Owner Joint Action Committee Chairman M. Janakirama Reddy.
1,200 tankers join strike
In the city alone, around 50,000 workers, including in allied sectors participated, he said and termed GST as a burden on the buyer and seller, ultimately hitting the common man hard.
Operations by around 1,200 tankers, including those ferrying LPG, operated by 2,500 drivers and workers from the five terminals of HPCL, IOL, BPCL and East India Petroleum Limited joined the strike, said secretary of Visakha Oil Tankers’ Owners Association G. Raghurama Raju, who represents the three North Coastal districts.
“It’s difficult to find the condition of the drivers who are doing the hard job. Hence, the association decided to support the strike,” he said, adding that it would take two to three days for the operations to stabilise. after the strike.
