Hartal-hit Kerala shuts down again

Kerala logged out of normal life once again on Thursday, going through its 32nd hartal in just 12 months...

Kerala logged out of normal life once again on Thursday, going through its 32nd hartal in just 12 months, and the second time in one week in its northern half.

Thursday’s hartal, called by the BJP, was to protest the alleged neglect of the state’s railway, and also against forking out some portions of the Palakkad railway division to form a new railway division with Salem as headquarters in Tamil Nadu. It was timed to coincide with the inauguration of the Salem division on Thursday. As in the past, Thursday’s hartal too caused a near-total shut down of schools, offices and shops all over the state. Though it largely passed off peacefully, mobs stoned the few buses that tried to operate in some parts of the state and one such incident left two kids injured.

Meanwhile, the High Court issued notices to various political parties, including the CPI(M), CPI, Congress, IUML, BJP, and Janata Dal on a PIL against hartals even while it expressed satisfaction on the steps taken by the government to combat Thursday’s shutdown.

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A division bench of Chief Justice H L Dathu and Justice K T Shankaran, recorded its satisfaction and said the government had taken all preventive and precautionary measures to prevent disruption of normal life.

When the case was taken up, the Government Pleader (GP) handed over the DGP’s fax message to all Police Commissioners and Superintendents of Police regarding arrangements to be made on the hartal day. After perusing this confidential report, the bench expressed satisfaction on the arrangements made.

The notices were issued while considering a PIL by Anti-Hartal Campaign committee, Kochi, seeking a direction to DGP and Chief Secretary to ensure that normal life was maintained during hartal and no hardship caused to people wanting to work.

Meanwhile, over 400 tourists, mostly from the UK, who arrived here on board the cruise vessel “M V Vangogh” had a taste of the hartal as most of them could not venture out to view the scenic spots in “God’s Own Country.”

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The 412 passengers and 220 crew, who had arrived in the liner, were looking forward to seeing some of the well-known tourist spots in and around Kochi. The Travel Corporation of India, the tour operators, had initially drawn up plans to take the tourists to the Jewish synagogue, Sant Cruz church, where Vasco Da Gama was first interred, and nearby areas.

However, when the cruise liner authorities were told about the possible risk of venturing out, they decided to cancel the programme, TCI sources said.

Shopping could not be done due to which most of the tourists were disappointed, tour coordinator Robert Williams said. The tourists were also supposed to take a two-hour long boat ride across the backwaters, which was also cancelled.

Some passengers could manage to get taxis to take them around. The ship, which arrived from Salalah in Oman, would be leaving for Colombo this evening. At least 17 passengers, who arrived here from Qatar, boarded the vessel from Kochi while 18 passengers have disembarked and would be joining the ship at another destination.