Jammu, July 5: The Bharat bandh not only affected the normal life in Jammu and Kashmir, but the pilgrims and tourists had to suffer in absence of public transport, which remained off the roads for most of the day.
 Hundreds of pilgrims, in absence of commercial and public transport, were either forced to stay back at the Railway station or walk on foot all the way to the city as a small number of taxis and autos available at the station, taking the advantage of bandh, were allegedly demanding two times more fare from them.
 “We reached here in the morning but did not found any matador and were asked to pay Rs 500 for a taxi, which we could not afford  thus forcing us to sit  here at the Railway station”, said Mohit Basu, who along with his family has come to visit Vaishno Devi.
 At Railway station passengers arriving here were seen bargaining with drivers of taxis and autos, available in small number, who were plying on the city roads despite the bandh call.
 Left with no option, many of them travelled on foot to reach their destination. A large number of passengers carrying their luggage walking all the way from the Railway station presented a common scene on the roads during the whole day. Even locals had to travel by foot to reach their homes.
 “I just came from Delhi but there is no transport available and I will have to move on foot to reach my home”, said Surinder Bhat of Parade area.
 At bus stand although some busses on inter district routes were playing, their number was very small as compared to that of normal days which created huge problems for the commuters. However the inter-state public transport remained totally off the roads through out the day.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 5 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 5 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 6 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST