Chandigarh-Delhi airfare soars from Rs 3,000 to Rs 19,000 amid Punjab bandh

On a day when protesting farmers have called for Punjab bandh, a surge in pricing has sent airfares on the Chandigarh-Delhi route skyrocketing, with a routine Rs 3,000 ticket selling for Rs 19,000.

Various Punjab farmer unions have called a statewide shutdown on December 30 to press the government for acceptance of their demands.

Most airlines have not been showing the booking prices for flights online, with tickets available only at the airport or through their dedicated websites.

“Depending on the timing of the day, tickets are available at a premium. The daytime tickets are expensive but the evening tickets are cheaper," said a ticketing firm owner in Phase 7, Mohali.

Those commuting by road in Mohali were inconvenienced as farmers blocked roads and rail tracks and even staged a sit-in outside shops and petrol pumps.

The protesters parked tractor-trailers on the middle of the roads and spent time around bonfires in foggy weather even as loudspeakers blared messages seeking support for their cause.

The protesters offered tea and biscuits to inconvenienced commuters.

Visitors and patients travelling to the PGI from far-off places were stuck a few kilometres away from their destination at Baroudi toll plaza near New Chandigarh where farmer union members allowed passage to them and ambulances only after seeing OPD cards or hearing a back call from the PGI departments.

Airport Road was also blocked under the railway overbridge near the IISER light-point. The protesters, with loudspeakers atop their vehicles accompanied by tractor-trailers, thanked shopkeepers in Phase 3B2 for keeping their establishments closed.

In Kharar, vehicles mostly remained off the road as farmer union members patrolled the roads. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) leader Jaspal Singh Niamian said, "Everybody is cooperating. We are determined to make the bandh a success.”