BHUBANESWAR/CUTTACK: Commuters in the Twin City of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack had an harrowing experience during the 12-hour strike observed by All Odisha Auto Chalak Mahasangha and All Odisha Taxi Operators Mahasangha on Thursday. Demanding rollback of fuel prices, the two associations crippled transport system in the two cities for 12 hours.
The worst affected were people visiting the Capital to avail medical facilities. A woman carrying her ailing child to a hospital was waylaid near Kalpana Square and not allowed to proceed. Similarly, another woman with serious knee problem was forced to take a trolley from railway station to home due to unavailability of auto-rickshaws or taxis.
The passengers said the agitators were protesting aggressively near the railway station and they faced difficulties even while walking to their destinations. While several individuals managed to take lift from two-wheeler riders. The protestors also clashed with drivers of online transportation network companies while they were lifting passengers. Passengers at the airport and bus stand also faced hurdles in moving to their destination.
The agitators are demanding revision of policy for fixing fares, opening of pre-paid counters for auto-rickshaws and taxis, set-up parking places, reducing insurance premium of auto-rickshaws, and others.
“We protested at Lower PMG and raised our demands. We called the strike from 6 am to 6 pm. But, the operators started their business now,” auto-rickshaw mahasangha’s general secretary PK Samal said. There are about 1.35 lakh auto-rickshaws and about 15,000 taxis in the State under the associations.
In Cuttack too the strike affected communication in and around the city posing troubles for the common man. The daily commuters, who depend on autorickshaws to reach their work places and other destinations were the worst sufferers. Passengers were stranded at Badambadi, Link Road, OMP Square, Sikharpur and Jagatpur in the absence of autorickshaws to transport them to their destination.
With a medical college located here, patients and their attendants found it difficult to reach SCB Medical College owing to the strike.Cuttack Auto Drivers’ Association secretary Nabaghan Swain said 12 autorickshaws were shifting patients freely as an emergency service on humanitarian ground.