The public transport was vastly affected on Saturday as various Kannada organisations stalled the movement of buses on account of Karnataka bandh.
Barring a few incidents of stone pelting on buses, the day passed off peacefully.
Transport services were hit badly as both KSRTC and BMTC withdrew services at 11 am and 8 am respectively.
Autorickshaws and taxis, however, remained off the roads through the day, only resuming partial operations after 6 pm.
“We initially planned to run our regular schedule of buses on full frequency till 4 pm.
But though we operated the buses till 8 am, after that there were incidents of stone pelting.
These were the newer Volvo buses that were attacked.
We then began services again at 4 pm and almost 400-500 buses were on the roads.
BMTC has lost up to `2.
5 crore revenue due to the bandh,” explained Anjum Parvez, MD, BMTC.
Different pro-Kannada small groups across the city disrupted traffic at various traffic junctions.
Law and order police personnel, who were stationed at some of the usual spots, caught many such protesters and let them off after a warning.
Further, KSRTC services that came to a standstill at 11 am resumed services at 69 of 72 depots by 5 pm.
“Except in Mandya, Maddur and Pandavapura depots, operations resumed across all our depots.
Our buses encountered instances of blockages and agitation enroute to many places except Mangalore and Puttur,” said Manjunatha Prasad.
Trains Cancelled
KRV activists also staged a rail roko protest at the City Railway Station.
The South Western Railway cancelled the Mysore- Bangalore Passenger, Mysore-Bangalore holiday specials, Mayiladuturai- Mysore Express, Bangalore- Tuticorin Express, Tuticorin- Mysore Express, Tirupati- Chamarajanagar Passenger, Shimoga Town-Bangalore Passenger, Mysore-Jaipur Express, Mysore-Bangalore City Express, Bangalore City- Mysore Express, Mysore- Bangalore Passenger and the Dharwad-Bangalore Intercity Express.
