Vehicular movement in Mumbai remained largely unaffected on Tuesday despite the nationwide strike called in support of the farmers protesting against the contentious farm bills. The BrihanMumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking operated 99 per cent of its buses on Tuesday and the average attendance of bus drivers, conductors and bus starters was around 85 per cent.
"4,486 buses were pressed into service across the island city and suburbs on Tuesday. Passenger footfall was also quite normal and no untoward incident was reported throughout the day," BEST spokesperson, Manoj Varade told the Free Press Journal. Auto rickshaws and taxis affiliated under independent transport union bodies remained on the road on Tuesday.
Al Quadros, general secretary, Mumbai Taximen's Association stated that taxis were operational throughout the day and provided transportation services to passengers travelling to the airport and railway stations. "The pandemic and lockdown have caused severe loss to the transport sector. Hence, we decided that taxis would run normally unless there is any law and order situation in Mumbai," Quadros said.
Echoing his sentiment, Thampi Kurien, general secretary, Mumbai Rickshawmen's Association said, rickshaws were plying. However, the passenger footfall was low in the morning. "Post lockdown, people have been using auto rickshaws to travel shorter routes. On Tuesday, we felt that people had refrained from going out unnecessarily till afternoon," Kurien said.
Meanwhile, the ruling Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had extended their support to the nationwide strike. Nearly 5,000 taxis and auto rickshaws affiliated under Shiv Sena transport unions remained off the road. "We appealed to our members to stand in solidarity with the farmers and stay off the road for a day. We had also maintained to not disrupt public transport services in Mumbai," Uday Dalvi, president, Maharashtra Vahtuk Sena, said.
Transportation of essential commodities like milk, vegetables, fruit and medicines were excluded from the strike. Truck operators, however, maintained that the movement of goods was affected partially. "Many truck drivers kept their trucks off the road in support of the agitating farmers. However, the supply of essential commodities was not stopped," stated Kailash Pingle, spokesperson and leader Maharashtra Rajya Motor Malak Sangh.
Meanwhile, due to protests in rural districts, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) had to cancel nearly 72 per cent of the operational buses on Tuesday. The state transport undertaking operated 12,516 buses on Tuesday till 7 pm in the evening, but had to cancel 9,059 buses later. "Police officials in some of the districts asked us to pull back the buses. There were protests in some parts of the state. However, no untoward incident was reported throughout the day," Abhijit Bhosale, MSRTC spokesperson said.
Local train services were unaffected on Tuesday. People in some parts of the state had staged Rail Roko demonstrations. Nearly fifty protestors had staged a rail roko agitation on Tuesday morning at Malkapur railway station in Buldhana district, expressing their solidarity with the farmers’ call for Bharat Bandh. According to the sources, these protestors belonged to the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmers’ union based in Kolhapur. However, none of the outstation trains were delayed or held due to the rail roko.
According to the railway officials, one outstation train, Navjeevan Express, operating between Chennai and Ahmedabad, had halted at Malkapur railway station. The protesters blocked the railway tracks, but were removed by the Railway Protection Force, Government Railway Police, and local police. The incident occurred at 6.50am and the protesters were moved within minutes. “The protesters were immediately removed from the railway tracks. Navjeevan Express left on time and there was no delay in train services,” said a senior Central Railway official.
(With inputs from Swapnil Mishra)
