Kochi: Roadblocks mark BJP hartal

Kochi: The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by Bharatiya Janata Party hit normal life in Kochi city and Ernakualm district as almost all shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed while wafer attendance marked the government offices. Nearly 50 per cent of the workforce at the Infopark, the IT hub of Kochi, reported for duty as companies ferried the staff members to the office in police convoy. A section of BPOs brought the staff before 6 a.m. while many companies allowed the staff to work from home.

The commuters were the worst his as private and public transport buses, cars and autos stayed away from the roads. The Kerala State Transport Corporation, which normally used to operate local and suburban services, however, failed in operating a single service on Thursday after the commencement of the hartal. The hartal supporters meanwhile put up road block at Vytilla junction and forcibly stopped a service operated by members of volunteer groups operating services to help stranded passengers at railway stations and other locations.

A baby relaxes in South Railway station in Ernakulam even as her family members were forced to stay inside the platform due to non-availability of vehicles. (Photo: DC)The team bus of Indian Super League franchise Kerala Blasters was also stopped by hartal supporters at Tripunithura when the team was returning to hotel after practice. The functioning of Cochin International Airport Limited was largely unaffected as most staff  members attended the office. The airport company deployed two vans to drop arriving passengers at Aluva and Angamaly railway stations to spare them from being stranded.

Out of the 85-government offices at the district administration headquarters at Kakkanad, only around 48 offices opened and most of them too downed shuttered around noon as 40 per cent of staff who turned up for work chose to return by then. Attendance at the district collectorate was also logged at around 40 per cent. Public sector undertakings like Cochin Port Trust and FACT functioned partially as over 60 per cent of the staff came to work. The attendance at BPCL-Kochi Refineries was nearly normal during the day. Many volunteer groups distributed food packets to people stranded at many places in the city and its surroundings.