Thousands of passengers were stranded here Monday as all inter-state bus operators stopped plying for the day as part of an India-wide strike against Supreme Court’s recent decision to amend the Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The usually bustling Jammu bus stand presented a contrasting picture as buses just remained parked. All inter-state operators including Jammu Kashmir Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) remained off the roads in solidarity with Dalit organizations who had called for the strike.
Bus services to Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur, Pathankot, Jalandhar and Ludhiana were badly affected. Thousands of regular commuters, tourists and pilgrims had to postpone their journey or struggled to find space in available trains to these destinations.
“JKSRTC operates nearly 50 buses from Jammu to Delhi, Amritsar, Pathankot, Ludhiana, Ajmair Shareef and Chandigarh but day operations of all these buses remained suspend due to Bharat Badh,” Dhirender Sharma, General Manager (operations) SRTC told Greater Kashmir.
Official sources said on an average more than 200 buses of JKSTRC and state-owned vehicles of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Rajasthan that ply regularly between Jammu and Katra daily also were off the roads.
“Many regular passengers, who had to attend important offices after weekly Sunday break in neighbouring cities of Punjab like Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batalla, Amritsar faced immense problems,” an employee posted in Dinanagar, Punjab said.
Meanwhile, various SCST associations took out protest demonstrations against Supreme Court’s directives in the winter capital. The protestors alleged cast atrocities have increased manifold in the recent past.