Chandigarh limping back to normal

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 27

Normalcy was on Sunday returning to Chandigarh, three day after the mayhem was created by the dera followers.

All the markets and tourists spots—Sukhna Lake, and Rose Garden—witnessed thin presence of tourists and residents on today. Only handful of the tourists visited the Rock Garden, which otherwise is thronged by many visitors. The usual hectic activities and the rush were missing at these places as residents are still scared of any untoward incident.

For the third consecutive day, the footfall at the Elante, Centra and other malls were recorded below the average. Sahil Juneja, owner of the Pashtun restaurant in Elante, said: “We have suffered huge losses in the last three days. On weekends, we otherwise have people standing outside the restaurant waiting for their turn.”

The situation is also same in the markets as the customers were missing. Even the paid parking lots at various markets wore a deserted look.

Bus, train services resumed partially

No rush of the passengers was noticed at both the bus stands in Sector 43 and 17. Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) has resumed local bus services.

Amit Talwar, Director, CTU, said: “We have resumed bus services for all the routes, except Rohatk, Hisar and Jind. Other routes are likely to start from tomorrow after assessing the situation.”

The Haryana and Punjab roadways have only started buses to the Delhi through the CTU. Meanwhile, the train services are to be resumed fully. A railway official said, “Five trains reached the station today. Among them was Himalyan Queen, Evening Shatbadi and Sadbhavna. He said they have no intimation so far regarding the trains that would leave Chandigarh tomorrow.