Buses parked amid the Bharat Bandh today
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: The call for a Bharat Bandh on Wednesday by the Reservation Bachao Sangharsh Samiti has not had a significant impact on operations in Bengaluru.
The samiti has called for a nationwide bandh on Wednesday against a Supreme Court ruling that allows sub-categorisation within SC/ST reservations. However, the impact seems to be limited to the country’s northern region, especially Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh.
No bus disruptions were observed in Bengaluru. “All 5,700 of our buses that are running daily are operating today. There is no call for a bandh among bus operators, operations are as always,” said BMTC's Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) GT Prabhakar Reddi.
Manjunath, president, Adarsha Auto Rickshaw Union, said, “Nobody has called for strike in Bengaluru, and we are not calling for one either. I am aware of the strike call in the north but I doubt it will impact us here. We haven’t observed any changes in app requests and as far as I am aware, all autos are on the roads today”.
Similarly, Ashok Kumar, city present, Ola Uber Drivers and Owners Association said there has been no strike-like condition here and attributed any delays in commuters getting an auto-rickshaw or cab to the previous night’s rains and peak hours.
“Vehicle availability might have been hit because of the rain last night. Since it is a weekday and peak hours, there might be some natural delay in hailing an auto or cab,” he said, adding that if there was a strike call, all unions or associations would have issued a statement in advance.