Chandigarh-Delhi airfares soar to Rs 19K amid bandh
With rail operations suspended and vehicles remaining off the road from 7am to 4pm due to Punjab Bandh today, airfares on the Chandigarh-Delhi route soared several times due to surge-pricing at the daytime.
A ticket for the Chandigarh-Delhi flight at 3.30pm that normally costs Rs 3,000 was priced at Rs 19,230. The one-way fare for the 8.45 pm flight to Delhi was priced at Rs 15,288. For the rest of the day, the airfare hovered around Rs 9,000, three times the normal price.
“Depending on the timing of the day, tickets are available at a premium. The daytime tickets are expensive, but are relatively cheaper in the evening,” said a ticketing firm owner in Phase 7, Mohali.
Road users and commuters in Mohali were inconvenienced as farmer unions blocked roads and railway tracks. Shops and filling stations were also shut in support of the statewide protest call.
Protesters squatted on roads after parking their tractor trolleys in the middle and spent time around little bonfires in the foggy weather even as loudspeakers blared seeking support for their cause. To compensate for the inconvenience caused to the commuters, the protesters served tea-biscuit langar at some places.
Visitors and patients travelling to the PGI from far-off places were stuck a few kms from their destination at the Baroudi toll plaza near New Chandigarh. Members of the farmer unions allowed passage to patients and ambulances only after seeing their OPD cards or hearing a back call from the PGI departments. The Airport Road was also blocked at the railway overbridge near the IISER light point.
The protesters, with loudspeakers fitted atop vehicles, accompanied by tractor trolleys thanked shopkeepers for keeping the market closed in Mohali’s Phase 3B2. The claimed that all hotels have been closed too. In Kharar, vehicles mostly remained off roads as members of the protesting unions patrolled the roads. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) leader Jaspal Singh Niamian said, “Everybody is cooperating. We are determined to make the bandh a success.”
At the Dappar toll plaza located near Lalru, the protesting farmers stopped three Mohali-bound ambulances coming from Palwal.
The brand new ambulances, without registration number plates, were carrying 45 passengers. The passengers said they had boarded the ambulances near ITI, Lalru. The farmers held up the drivers of the vehicles till 4pm.
“This is a clear violation of government guidelines. Ambulances, with hooters on, are being used to ferry passengers. Action must be taken against persons responsible for misusing government vehicles,” a union leader further said.
As per an advisory issued by the Haryana Police, commuters took Sonepat, Panipat, Karnal, Indri, Ladwa, Yamunanagar, NH-344A, Mulana, Shahzadpur and Panchkula route to reach Chandigarh.
Powermen, trade unions support bandh call
Powermen, arhtiya and trader unions supported the bandh. While all big markets remained closed, liquor vends were open at some places. A nine-hour ‘bandh’ was called by farmer unions in support of their demands, including legal guarantee for MSP. The call for the shutdown was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha over the Centre failure in acting on the farmers’ demand for a legal guarantee of MSP. Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal (70) has been on a fast-unto-death at Khanauri border protest site over the non-fulfilment of the demands.
