In Mumbai, 11 buses of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) were damaged by way of stone pelting. These were between 3am and 8am in the areas of Deonar, Ghatkopar, Asalfa, Andheri and Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar.
The day-long nationwide strike called by transport sector workers to protest the proposed new road transport bill did not paralyse Mumbai's commute network; it did, however, partially cripple travel facilities in and around Thane.
In Mumbai, 11 buses of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) were damaged by way of stone pelting. These were between 3am and 8am in the areas of Deonar, Ghatkopar, Asalfa, Andheri and Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar. “These were minor incidents and we have registered cases about the same,” said Dr Jagdish Patil, general manager, BEST.
Moreover, till 8am, there was a 75% turnout of BEST buses, which kept on improving as the day progressed – by 11am, the figure rose to 89%. “Our highest turnout has been 94% till date, and since it was 89% today, there was negligible hampering of bus operations,” added Dr. Patil.
Early on Thursday morning, none of the buses moved out of Malad bus depot, as a backup measure of buses from neighbouring depots were pressed into service to the routes from Malad area.
“During the morning hours, there were less auto rickshaws available due to fear of vandalism. But by noon, it became easy to hail a three-wheeler,” said Manoj Soni, a resident of Dindoshi.
The situation for taxis in the areas of Sion, Ghatkopar, Chembur and Byculla mirrored the same; due to healthy number of auto rickshaws available outside various suburban railway stations, the opportunity of drivers to fleece passengers by way of overcharging too was not reported.
Residents of Thane, however, faced more problems in heading to their respective destinations including Thane railway station. Not only were auto rickshaws missing, bus operations too were hampered. “There were a lot of people waiting to hop into whichever vehicle was headed to the (railway) station, and the crowd only swelled by 10am,” shared R Jacob, a Ghodbunder resident.
By 11am, those unions who had given a call for strike announced withdrawal of the same, after a meeting of the union office bearers was held with minister of transport Diwakar Raote on Thursday.
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