Kolkata: Those who wanted to travel to their destinations in the city did so without any hassle on Wednesday, despite the bandh. App cabs were available at the usual fare, Metro ran its normal 288 weekday services, and 70% buses were on the road.
However, suburban train commuters had a trying time as Eastern Railway’s Sealdah and Howrah divisions had to cancel 100 EMU locals because of disruptions.“Since morning, obstructions were reported at Barrackpore and Belgharia stations in the Sealdah-Barrackpore section, stations like Barasat, Bamangachi, Habra, Bangaon, Maslandapur, Thakurnagar and Duttapukur in the Bangaon -Barasat, Barasat-Basirhat sections, Sonarpur station in the Canning-Sonarpur section,” an ER official said.
Affected stations in ER’s Howrah division included Hind Motor, Mankundu, Hooghly, Konnagar, Uttarpara, Srirampur, Bally, Chandannagar, Rishra, Singur, Rampurhat and Belur.
Peak-hour Metro trains were not crammed like the usual weekday. The carrier recorded 70,000 less commuter counts till 2pm. “Around 1.9 lakh passengers travelled on the North-South or Blue line till 2pm,” Metro CPRO Kausik Mitra said. Till 2 pm more than 13,000 passengers took East-West Metro’s Sealdah-Sector V or Green line 1 and around 16,000 boarded Green Line-2 (East-West Metro’s Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section).Till 2pm around 2.2lakh passengers availed the various Metro lines, which was around 80,000 less than a normal weekday.
Bus rides were comfortable as many chose to stay indoors. There were two incidents of vandalism on private buses at Barasat’s Champadali and Dak Bungalow areas. Bus owners said there were obstructions at Kankurgachi and Gariahat, off and on, till 1 pm.
“Around 30% buses remained off roads in Kolkata. Services were normal in New Town and Rajarhat,” said Titu Saha of City Suburban Bus Service.