Pics by Rons Bantwal
Mumbai, July 4 (IANS) At least 86 domestic flights were cancelled to and from Mumbai in view of the nationwide shutdown Monday, officials said.
While 46 outgoing flights of various private airlines were cancelled due to poor response as passengers could not reach the domestic airport, another 40 incoming flights from all over India were also cancelled for the day.
The usually bustling Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), one of the busiest in the country, wore a near-deserted look as pre-paid and metered taxis and autorickshaws remained off the roads.
Kingfisher Airlines attempted to salvage the situation and combined several of its flights. These include IT-2403 Bangalore-Chennai with IT-4612; IT-2404 Chennai-Bangalore with IT-2406; IT-101 Mumbai-Bangalore with IT-103; and IT-102 Bangalore-Mumbai with IT-104, an official said.
The Mumbai International Airport Ltd, the company which manages the CSIA, arranged with the BEST to provide 20 buses from the domestic terminal and six from the international terminal to transport passengers to various destinations in the city.
Besides, it also arranged for four coaches to ferry stranded passengers to nearest suburban railway stations like Andheri and Vile Parle, an official said.
Large parts of the city and suburbs remained closed during the opposition-sponsored shutdown to protest the price hike of fuel products and other essential items.
Stray incidents of violence, road and rail blocks, stone-pelting of public and private vehicles marred the otherwise peaceful start to the shutdown Monday morning in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra, police and civil officials said.
Most schools, colleges, private offices, malls, multiplexes and other establishments did not open Monday as a precautionary measure, while most government offices reported thin attendance.
Last week, the central government ended government curbs on petroleum pricing and hiked the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.
The price of diesel went up by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene by Rs.3 a litre, petrol by Rs.3.50 a litre, and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder.