Kerala - Kochi   

BJP hartal total, peaceful

Photo: VipinChandran

Day off: With only a few vehicles plying due to the BJP hartal, it was a quiet day on the roads in the city on Thursday. -

KOCHI: The 12-hour hartal called by the BJP on Thursday against the bifurcation of the Palakkad railway division and the Union government’s alleged neglect towards Kerala was total in the city. The hartal went off peacefully though it paralysed normal life.

The city roads were deserted with private buses staying away. Autorickshaws were also off the road.

Though train services were not affected, there were only a few passengers to board the trains at the Ernakulam Junction and the Ernakulam Town railway station.

Those who arrived at the railway stations had a tough time in finding transport for their onward journey.

It was respite from the heavy traffic for the few private vehicles that plied.

The KSRTC operated a few schedules. The majority of private establishments remained closed. Most of the schools were also given holiday.

The wayside eateries did a roaring business as most of the hotels were closed.

The new generation retail shops did not operate.

In contrast, a few of the neighbourhood grocery shops were kept open at some places.

The more than 400 passengers in the luxury cruise liner Van Gogh arrived in Kochi to a lukewarm reception as shops and business establishments remained closed and tour operators assigned to take the visitors around the city for brief excursions and shopping trips were forced to cancel their services owing to the hartal.

A spokesman for James Mackintosh and Company, agents for the vessel in Kochi, said that the passengers, most of them from the United Kingdom, cancelled their scheduled trips around Kochi.

The vessel on a round-the-world trip with 412 passengers and 220 crew berthed at 9.15 a.m., having arrived from Salalah.

The clearances were quick and efficient and the vessel sailed off to Colombo by 3 p.m.

This is the first time that Van Gogh, registered in the Marshall Islands, called at Kochi which has emerged as a major stopover for cruise liners across the globe.

This is the 13th cruise liner that is arriving in Kochi this fiscal. The number is expected to more than double during the remaining season.

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