BENGALURU: Hundreds of commuters were stranded at Mysuru Road satellite bus station on Tuesday morning as Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) authorities stopped bus services via Mysuru and Mandya.
Every day, over 1,491 buses operate from this terminal, 787 are KSRTC, 454 Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) buses, and 46 belong to Kerala.
As per information available from the officers in-charge at the bus terminal, a few buses were operated early in the morning. “Around 8.30am we got information that agitation had intensified at Mandya and Maddur. We then decided to stop services,” said an official at the Mysuru Road bus terminal.
Passengers travelling to Mysuru, Mandya, Hunsoor, HD Kote, Madikeri, Kollegal, Chamarajnagar, towards Palakkad, Ooty and other towns in Tamil Nadu were left in a tight spot with no buses. A few buses to Madikeri took the Channarayapatna route to avoid the protest.
Speaking to Express, a couple travelling to Gundlupet, said, “We came to Bengaluru to celebrate Ganesha festival with family. But now we have been forced to stay back due to the protest.”
A member of a family travelling to Mysuru said, “We had to drop our daughter back to her college hostel in Mysuru. We decided to take her back on Monday instead as we don’t want to take a risk.”
With buses staying off roads, many passengers travelling to Mandya, Maddur, Ramanagara and Channapatna took the train. “There are some private buses operating up to Channapatna, but it is dangerous. We will go by train,” said Chandrashekar, a resident of Ramanagara.
Meanwhile, pro-Kannada activists protested at the satellite bus terminal. Prakash, a Pro-Kannada activist, said, “All the political leaders, including the Chief Minister, should resign and join the agitation. Water should not be released to Tamil Nadu.”
By mid-noon, bus services up to Ramanagara resumed. However, conductors issued tickets with a warning that buses would be stopped at the nearest depot if there are protests on the way.