Hundreds of passengers who arrived at the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) through the day were stranded on the airport premises for hours as taxi unions had joined the stir.
Saturday was also a field day for airport eateries as unsuspecting passengers thronged the outlets with no way to reach the city.
A team of three Sri Lankan businessmen spent the day at the airport, working on their laptops, hoping to reach their destinations soon. “We had to wait for more than three hours in spite of pre-booking a cab. We landed at 3 pm and our cab driver told us that he would pick us up only around 6 pm,” said one of them.
While domicile passengers knew about the bandh and had made personal transport arrangements, most of those who were affected, were non- Bangaloreans. “I had come to visit my son who studies here. Due to the bandh, my cab driver dropped me off here hours before my flight,” explained Sheela (name changed), who was returning to Delhi.
Private and Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) cab services resumed operations around 4.30 pm bringing respite to the passengers. Most of the cabs reached the airport premises early on Saturday morning.
Dr Prakash Tomar from Mangalore, who landed at 4 pm was saved the trouble. “I was unaware of the bandh. There were so many people waiting for a means to get out of the airport, I shared the cab with another passenger,” he said. Anticipating the surge of arrivals and departures, the airport authorities had made many arrangements for passengers.
“Both the airport taxi and BMTC buses stopped operating. The only respite for passengers was that the airport taxis resumed partial operations at 12.45 pm and we urged passengers to car pool. Many got dropped off to their desired destinations and avoided waiting for the bandh to end to reach city limits. Many passengers who had afternoon flights checked in to the airport earlier in the morning and we made seating arrangements for them,” an airport spokesperson told Express.
The stranded crowds dispersed around 7 pm, when taxi services started in full swing