Demonetisation: Hartal peaceful in Malabar
Banks were fully functional but with less customers.
Kozhikode: The nationwide strike called by opposition parties on Monday against the demonetization drive by the Modi Government brought forth a range of benefits for the streets and the city at large. Although the public transport kept away from city roads, private vehicles took the opportunity for a free and easy ride through the city without traffic problems. All the banks were functioning but a few people were seen making various transactions. Due to two continuous days of bank holidays on Saturday and Sunday, a majority of the ATMs were closed down due to scarcity of money.
Only those ATMs functioning near the main branches of various banks were stocked with money. Meanwhile, the ‘Team Clean Beach’, an initiative started by morning walkers on Kozhikode beach spilled over to the streets with brooms and sticks and cleaned the city to make it beautiful for city folks coming the next day. “We try our best not to waste a hartal day sitting idle at home, instead our team gathers at the beach where we take our daily walks and clean it, making it free from plastic and paper waste”, said Arun Das, one of the members of Team clean beach.
The services of the Team clean beach were not limited to just cleaning the beach, the members also organized free bike services for the stranded passengers in Kozhikode railway station and bus stand. More than 30 members of the team were on the city roads offering their services. The situation was peaceful in Wayanad and Kasargod and isolated incidents of opposition party workers attempting to block private vehicles in party strongholds were reported from parts of Kasargod.