The Hindu : Kerala News : Hartals take a big toll on KSRTC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Hartals take a big toll on KSRTC

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 23. A staggering number of 662 buses were damaged in hartal-related incidents in the State during the last three-and-a-quarter years from June 1, 2000, to August 31, 2004, according to an official press release.

All these buses belonged to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Giving the other details, the press release said that 247 policemen were injured in such incidents during the period. There were attacks against 49 educational institutions and 155 installations of the Kerala State Electricity Board. Panchayat properties too were damaged in 120 cases.

Rs. 1.5-crore loss

The loss adds up to more than Rs. 1.5 crores, the press release added. The prime target of the hartal enforcers, whichever party they belonged to, had been the KSRTC. This State public sector institution runs a fleet of 3,800 buses, of which more than 17 per cent suffered damage in one hartal or another during the period.

Thiruvananthapuram district tops the list with 106 damaged buses, followed by Ernakulam with 83 and Alappuzha with 82. Sixty-five buses were targeted in Kozhikode, 64 in Kollam, 54 in Thrissur, 53 in Palakkad, 52 in Kottayam, 33 in Pathanamthitta, 22 in Kasaragod, 18 in Kannur, 15 in Malappuram, nine in Idukki and six in Wayanad.

Educational institutions

Thiruvananthapuram is the topper for attack against educational institutions too with a score of nine. Kozhikode comes next with eight. Four educational institutions each were attacked in Kottayam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Palakkad districts. Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Alappuzha had three attacks each, while Ernakulam, Idukki and Kannur had two each and Wayanad one.

Attacks against police

Of the 247 attacks against the police, 42 were in Kannur district. Kozhikode city and Thiruvananthapuram city had 25 such instances each, Kasaragod 24 and Kozhikode rural area 21.

Eleven cases are pending for attacking hospitals. Milk distribution is invariably exempted from the purview of the hartal by the protesting organisations, but there is one case pending in Kozhikode for attack against a Milma vehicle on one of the hartal days.

The police had registered 1,985 criminal cases for the destruction of public property in hartal-related incidents. There were convictions in 21 of these cases and the court proceedings are on in 1,253 cases, the press release said.

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