25 lakh travellers in 4 coastal districts stranded as 2,849 buses go off the roads

VISAKHAPATNAM: Bangalore native SL Virupaxappa, a service engineer with Karnataka-based Auma (India) Private Limited, travelled from Rayagada in Odisha to the Port City on Tuesday morning by train and went to Dwaraka Bus Station (DBS) to catch a bus to Hyderabad, only to get a shock of his life as none of the buses were plying.
"I hired an auto for Rs 80 from the station to DBS to catch a bus for Hyderabad but was shocked to find not a single bus at the station.I learnt from others that today is a strike. I don't want to travel by train as I do not have a reservation. I explained the situation to my officers in Bangalore, they agreed to permit me to stay in a lodge in the city till the situation improved," said an anxious Virupaxappa.
Parapati Venkatesh from Aakasa Lakkavaram village of Tekkali mandal in Srikakulam district, who came to the city on Monday night to pick up medicines at the Government Hospital for Mental Care at Peda Waltair, also found himself stranded at DBS. He was supposed to reach home by Tuesday afternoon at any cost to give the medicine to his elder sister, Sarada, who suffers from a psychiatric disorder.
"If my sister does not get the medicines in time, she becomes uncontrollable. I am really worried about the situation as I have not been able to find any alternative means of transport to reach home, which is nearly 150 kms away from here," an anxious Venkatesh said.
Like Virupaxappa and Venkatesh, thousands of travellers have been left high and dry in Vizag as the Seemandhra region shut down completely to protest against the bifurcation of the state.
Nearly 25 lakh bus travellers from four districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari falling under the Vizianagaram zone of APSRTC found themselves stranded on Tuesday as 2,849 buses (2,271 RTC-owned and 578 hired buses) went off the road, said PVV Mohan, zonal secretary of APSRTC National Mazdoor Union (NMU). "We will continue the protest till our demands are addressed. Nearly 12,000 RTC staff of the zone participated in the strike," Mohan said.
While about 50 bus services to long routes, mainly Hyderabad, were cancelled from Monday itself, the bus services on all local routes including 670 city services under five RTC depots including Maddilapalem, MVP Colony, Simhachalam and Steel City were off the roads since the early hours of Tuesday. These city buses cover 2.10 lakh kms daily across 147 routes and provide services to 5.5 lakh passengers in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation limits, including the newly merged Anakapalle and Bheemili.
At Maddilapalem, some activists had heated arguments with police personnel when they tried to stop private buses and lorries from moving by squatting on the road. They were successful in stalling traffic for over two hours outside the Maddilapalem bus depot despite the attempts of assistant commissioner of police (East), DN Mahesh, and circle inspector of MVP Zone, V Srinivasa Rao, and T Mohana Rao, CI for Highway Patrol outpost.
"We know that due to protests for the last 14 days, RTC has incurred losses of about Rs 98 crore, including Rs 20 crore in Vizianagaram zone alone. But we are protesting to keep the state united," said NMU state joint sectary Y Srinivasa Rao while addressing a motor cycle rally at Gandhi statue opposite GVMC office.
On the other hand, travellers trying for last minute train tickets under tatkal quota were forced to queue up from 3 am at the reservation counters at Gnanapuram. A groggy software engineer P Kiran, who was found sitting in the queue as he waited for the tatkal window to open, said, “I have to attend office at any cost tomorrow. I came to the centre at around 3 am to book a ticket,†Kiran said.
P Mahesh, also in the queue, said it was preferable to wait long hours in the tatkal queue than rely on private buses in this present situation. There is no guarantee that the private buses will reach the destination in time due to the protests on national highways connecting Vizag and Hyderabad.