Stone pelting on buses carrying students to school forced some managements to declare a holiday on Wednesday, the second day of the nationwide strike called by central trade unions.
The father of a student studying in a private school at Gunjur said all the children were immediately dropped back at their respective residences after protesters hurled stones at the bus. No one was injured.
A parent said, “My son boarded the school bus in the morning as usual along with other children. En route, the buses were pelted with stones, forcing the drivers to return and drop the children at their homes. The school declared a holiday. The school WhatsApp group was flooded with messages. How can they put school children’s safety at risk?”
The Bengaluru Urban district administration had announced on Tuesday that schools and colleges would remain open on Wednesday.
However, some schools decided to remain shut as a precautionary measure, choosing to hold classes during the weekend instead.
At least 46 BMTC buses damaged
Transport was partially hit as stone pelting forced the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to suspend services partially in the morning after at least 46 buses were damaged and three BMTC drivers were injured. This led to chaos as commuters, including many students, were stranded at bus stops for hours, only to be forced to walk back home due to the unavailability of buses.
Suhas S., a first-year pre-university student who was stranded at Malleswaram bus stop, said he had to walk nearly 4 km to reach home due to the unavailability of bus services.
Several parents were put to inconvenience as they had to leave their workplaces to pick up their children.
The BMTC, at one point early in the day, operated only 428 out of 3,226 schedules, forcing commuters to rely on private buses, taxis and autorickshaws. With around 70% of BMTC services cancelled, officials estimated the revenue loss to be ₹7.5 lakh.
Madhu Khare, who travels from Electronics City to M.G. Road by bus, said. "On Tuesday, I had to take a cab all the way. On Wednesday, I boarded a private bus that took me to Madiwala. From there, I had to take a cab to M.G. Road as there were no BMTC buses.”
Tanmoy, a Sanjaynagar resident and student of a college on Residency Road, said, “The frequency of buses was really low. We had early morning classes. I got delayed due to fewer number of buses.”
KSRTC officials pointed out that 4,504 schedules were cancelled on Tuesday and the tentative revenue loss was ₹5.40 crore. On Wednesday, 2,171 schedules were cancelled and the tentative revenue loss was ₹2.42 crore. A total of 17 of its fleet was damaged causing a revenue loss of ₹2.32 lakh. A total amount of ₹20.7 lakh was refunded to the passengers as cancellation charges.
Traffic jam
Traffic was hit in and around Town Hall and Majestic for about an hour due to a protest march by various organisations from Town Hall to Freedom Park.
