The 12-hour motor vehicle strike called by the Motor Workers Coordination Committee, in protest against the hike in petrol prices, hit normal life in the State.
Private buses, taxis, and autorickshaws, operated by transport workers belonging to unions under the committee, comprising mostly non-Congress unions, kept off the road.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, which operated normal services especially on long routes, provided some respite to travellers.
The strike did not affect commercial establishments, which remained open during the dawn-to-dusk strike period, but business was not brisk on Bakrid-eve.
Attendance in government offices was below normal, though banks and other financial institutions functioned normally.
The strike was by and large peaceful, barring an incident in Kollam town in which stones were thrown at a KSRTC bus. Agitators also blocked the New Delhi Kerala Express for some time in Kollam railway station.
Some shops chose to down shutters in the State capital, but life was not paralysed because of the non-availability of taxis and autorickshaws. Autorickshaws were seen plying here and there, while private vehicles plied as usual.
In Alappuzha and Kollam, strikers blocked the National Highway and M.C. Road for over an hour.
The impact of the strike was severe in Malabar, which depended on private bus services as the major mode of transport connecting the hinterland. The high range towns of Munnar and Kumily in Idukki district wore a deserted look, because shops remained closed despite KSRTC operating its usual schedules.
In Wayanad, two-wheelers and private vehicles came to the rescue of travellers wanting to reach the far-flung towns in the district in addition to the KSRTC services. Striking workers blocked vehicles at Sultan Bathery, Mananthawadi and Muthanga. In Kannur, the KSRTC had to call off services to Kasaragod following a blockade by the striking motor vehicle workers.
Elamaram Karim and P. Nandakumar, president and state secretary of the Confederation of Road Transport Workers, claimed that the 12-hour strike reflected popular opposition to the hike in petroleum prices and the oil companies' “unjustifiable action.” The DYFI announced a 24-hour hunger stir on November 17-18 in front of two important petroleum installations of Indian Oil in Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
