Shuttered shops, stranded tourists make hartal total in Thiruvananthapuram

Shops remained closed and public transport kept off roads on Monday
Stranded passengers wait at the Central Railway Station, Thampanoor, on Monday  during the hartal. | BP Deepu
Stranded passengers wait at the Central Railway Station, Thampanoor, on Monday during the hartal. | BP Deepu

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The dawn-to-dusk hartal by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) was near  total in the capital. Shops and business establishments remained closed and public transport, including KSRTC buses, kept off  roads. However, private cars were seen plying unhindered along with the regular flow of two-wheelers.

Commuters who arrived at Thampanoor Railway station faced difficulties in reaching their destinations. Though transportation was arranged in police   vehicles, many commuters were still left stranded. Vehicles ferrying workers   to Technopark and Central government offices were provided police escort.

The tea vendor was the lone trader at Chalai
 on Monday. | Kaviyoor Santhosh


“We waited for some mode of public transport for nearly three hours at  Thampanoor station before we were ferried in a police van,” said Binu AS, who accompanied his aged father, a cancer patient, to the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC).

“It was a long walk from Medical College gate to RCC as no autorickshaw  could be spotted,” he added.

Businesses totally shut

It was a total shutdown at the otherwise-busy Chalai market in the city. Barring a few flower shops, all other business establishments in the major market of the city remained closed. Though  fuel stations run by state-run Civil Supplies Corporation opened in the morning, it was forcibly shut down within a few hours.

The strike was total even in the interior areas of the city and also in towns such as Varkala and Attingal in the capital district. Even bunk shops which remain partially open during hartal days were seen with their shutters down. With hotels remaining shut, heavy rush was witnessed at hospital canteens during lunch hours.

Banks functioned normally

Most of the banks, though with skeletal staff, functioned normally in the capital. The LDF had exempted the banking sector from the purview of the strike. The usual customer rush was not witnessed on Monday as only people in urgent need of money visited the bank branches

Tourists preferred to stay at hotel

Though shops remained shut in and around Kovalam, tourists did not face much hardship in availing transportation. Pick up and drop back of tourists from the hotels to the airport went on smoothly. The government’s direction on Sunday that tourists should not be put to any hardship had its impact on the ground. However, most of the tourists who had planned outings on Monday postponed it and preferred to stay put in the hotels. Despite the government assurance, auto and taxi operators were reluctant to ferry tourists, except for trips to the airport and other emergency needs.

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