Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Bandh total and passes off peacefully

Staff Reporter

113 prisoners undertake a fast in support of bandh

Coimbatore: The 12-hour bandh by political parties in protest against the Supreme Court stay on reservation for Other Backward Communities in higher educational institutions, was near total and passed off peacefully in the district on Saturday.

Deserted look

The bus stands and railway stations wore a deserted look while almost all the shopkeepers had downed shutters. While medical shops remained open, even tea stalls in the city remained closed in the city. Almost all the schools had declared a holiday and in some cases even the examinations were postponed.

Buses kept off the road while autorickshaws those plied in the morning for transporting passengers from the Railway Junction and bus stands, later went off the road. Only a few private vehicles were on the roads during the bandh.

However, air traffic was not affected. Operations remained as usual despite less passenger flow.

Holiday

Several corporate houses and industries had declared a holiday on Saturday. Many of the industrial units remained closed. A few foundries worked to meet deadlines for the orders they had received.

Most of the trains arrived well before the commencement of the bandh, enabling passengers to reach their homes. The Southern Railway had cancelled a number of trains from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. from both Coimbatore and Podanur junctions.

Timely departure

The Hyderabad - Trivandrum Express was detained at Salem, while the Tiruchirapalli - Ernakulam Express was detained at Karur.

Many of the trains that had stopped at stations in Kerala, started passing through Coimbatore after the bandh came to a close.

Railway officials were confident of ensuring timely departure of trains after 6 p.m. as well as their arrivals on Sunday morning. Trains detained at stations along the route were being given priority regarding green signals and platforms, in order to maintain their schedule.

Passengers who were stranded at the Railway Junction were seen taking a nap on the seats at the platforms, waiting for rail traffic to resume.

As a precautionary measure, the City police had thrown a tight security cover across the City by deploying about 1,500 police personnel at road junctions and in sensitive pockets.

Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation depots and bus stands and vital installations had armed security cover.

Incoming vehicular traffic towards Tamil Nadu was stopped at the Walayar checkpost on the Kerala border. An attempt to burn the effigy of a Supreme Court judge by a group of pro-reservation activists was foiled by the police in Sivananda Colony area.

Police reports maintained that the bandh was a hundred per cent without even stray untoward incidents or violence. At the Coimbatore Central Prison, 113 convicts and undertrial prisoners led by Tamil activists, undertook a fast in support of the bandh call seeking reservation for OBCs.

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