KOCHI: For this bunch of enthusiastic youngsters from Kochi, Tuesday’s strike brought more trouble than they could anticipate. The group of 20 young men from Karuthala Vikasana Samithi and Red Bulls Sportsmen’s Club, who had been regularly serving the public on hartal days, couldn’t do so this time. While the group distributed free food packets for people during the previous hartal, this time they had planned to provide free motor bike rides for passengers stranded at railway stations and bus stands.Preparations for the same had begun 17 days ago. As per the plans, 20 motor bikes were rented each with a helpline number and a poster with the message, ‘Hartal Dinathil Saujanya Yathra’ (free rides on hartal day).According to what they planned, each passenger could avail himself of the free bike ride facility on direct request or by dialling the helpline number. The group sprung into action on Tuesday and transported as many as 30 passengers, some of them up to the Nedumbassery airport from North Railway station.However, smart and intricately planned as it all might seem, it was not to last long. The flashy bikes and the posters were soon spotted by the various political outfits which wasted no time in rallying against the venture.“They spotted us at Vytilla and told us not to provide the service. Though we tried to reason it out, it was to no avail. We even approached the traffic police, but the cops too supported the political outfits. Since the bikes were not ours, we could not take the risk of getting into a brawl which might damage the bikes. So we stopped the service,” said Suijith, secretary of Karithala Vikasana Samiti.The group is now a disappointed lot. “As many as four meetings were held preparing for the day. We used up all our monthly funds in the hope of doing something for common people,” Sujith Karithala added.
Comments
0 comment