The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : No train or bus services, autorickshaw rides today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 31, 2007
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

No train or bus services, autorickshaw rides today

City Bureau

Residents brace for Saturday shutdown; Koyambedu market to be closed

CHENNAI : With no bus services, suburban trains or autorickshaws, Chennai residents are bracing themselves for a near total bandh between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Several bankers and accountants in private firms stayed back till late Friday night for the annual account closing — a task that under normal circumstances would have run till the night of March 31. Those slated to arrive in the city early on Saturday are likely to face an ordeal of sorts till the evening, when the bandh concludes.

Passengers are likely to get stuck en route or at the Chennai Central and Egmore railway stations, the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu and the airport.

Autorickshaw drivers at the pre-paid stand in Chennai Central Railway Station are hesitant to take out their vehicles before 6 p.m. G. Arumugam, one of the office-bearers of the society that operates the pre-paid stand, said several drivers had already declared support for the bandh and felt it would be best to take out their vehicles only after 6 p.m. With some trains arriving between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., it is likely that several passengers be forced to stay put at the station.

Metropolitan Transport Corporation and the Southern Railway have announced that they would suspend their services between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Autorickshaw unions have also announced their support for the strike.

The I.T. and I.T-enabled services firms in the southern corridor of the city are falling back on contingency plans to bring to work at least a small part of their workforce. They have booked tourist cabs and are planning to bring in the employees early in the day. Traders at the Koyambedu vegetable market have said the wholesale market will remain shut during the bandh. V. R. Soundararajan, president of Koyambedu Periyar Vegetable Market Licence Holders Association, said the notice period for the bandh had been short and the losses as a result were inevitable. "We heard about the strike only on Thursday night. By then, the trucks from Maharashtra and Karnataka had already left."

However, this is unlikely to affect the neighbourhood shops because local vendors have made other sourcing arrangements.

Rail information

For information on trains at Chennai Central, call 25024544 or 25024545 or 25024546 and for Chennai Egmore, call 64502415 or 64502416.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu