Woe unto commuters

KOCHI: The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the Left parties and BJP in Kerala in protest against the petrol price hike brought the city to a standstill. The public transport buses kept off the road making life miserable for the commuters. Shops and business establishments remained closed. Policemen helped the stranded commuters by giving them lift in the police vehicles.Protest marches were taken out by CPM, BJP, SDPI, CPI (ML) and CPI in different parts of the city. The SDPI activists blocked a train at Ernakulam North Railway station in the morning.The KSRTC operated services to Kakkanad and Mattanchery for the government employees, but they were discontinued by afternoon. Meanwhile, State Water Transport Department did not operate boats. Some isolated shops in the city were opened in the morning but they were shut down by afternoon. “The hartal was peaceful across the city. There were some minor and isolated incidents but no major case of violence was reported,” Tommy Sebastine, Assistant Commissioner, Special Branch said.The activities of the Cochin port and the High Court were affected as most of the staff could not make it to the offices. Even the District Collectorate and Infopark witnessed low attendance. The collectorate recorded an attendance of 46 per cent as most of the staff had taken leave in advance. Some of the IT companies in the Infopark had declared Thursday as holiday. Also, the schools remained closed. Interestingly, Marine Drive saw a heavy rush of visitors who came here to spend the day by the sea.The autorickshaw and taxi drivers were in demand. They made good money by transporting people from the Railway stations and the bus depots. When City Express asked the autorickshaw drivers about their fares for the day, they said they would not operate on normal fares. Besides, many charged heavily from the stranded commuters. Taxi men also charged double the fares.