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Trade unions’ strike: Buses stay off roads, cops struggle to manage chaos in Ludhiana
Life came to a standstill for more than two hours as thousands of protesters from around a dozen trade unions thronged the city bus stand and blocked the Link Road on Friday.
Life came to a standstill for more than two hours as thousands of protesters from around a dozen trade unions thronged the city bus stand and blocked the Link Road on Friday.
The commuters bore the brunt of protesters’ ire as they were left high and dry in sweltering conditions at the bus stand and on the Link Road.
As the cavalcade of protesters representing different trade unions marched to the city bus stand, Link Road was clogged from both the sides. The elevated road adjacent to the city bus stand remained dotted with vehicles till a distance of about 800 meters for more than an hour.
Dharmendar Singh had come from Faridkot to appear in an interview and said, “I had to reach Focal Point, Phase 8 for a job interview at a bicycle company at 11:30am, but the road was blocked, so I could not make it on time. Conducting a peaceful protest is understandable, but choking routine affairs will not get their demands met and it should not come at the expense of somebody’s job.”
Helpless commuters were seen sitting inside their cars and two wheelers for hours, waiting patiently for the roads to clear. Commuters on Ferozepur Road, Link Road, among other busy junctions, also felt the heat of the strike as cavalcade of members of trade unions marched in the middle of roads, causing traffic snarls.
Police personnel walking alongside protesters tried to prevent utter chaos.
Another passenger, Jaswinder Kaur, along with her daughter, alighted from a private bus opposite city bus stand area and said, “We boarded the bus around 11am from Sherpur Chowk and it took us more than 90 minutes to reach city bus stand, while usually it takes 15 minutes. It was unbearable in the sweltering weather for my daughter who had fever”.
Sanjeev Yadav, a private bus conductor, said, “It took us more than one and a half hour to reach at the city bus stand after getting stuck in the traffic.”
The traffic cops deployed at the venue were seen steering the commuters through alternative routes. Assistant commissioner of police, Buland Singh, said, “In view of the strike we had made adequate prior arrangements for traffic diversion and deployed traffic cops to divert the traffic to alternative routes.”
