 |
| Public life would come to a standstill on a hartal day |
This post is a
simple effort to serve as a guide to people from outside Kerala state who are
unfortunate enough to arrive on a hartal day in Kerala. This is basically a survival guide to overcome the effects of hartal up to an extent and also provides an
online schedule of planned hartals. As soon as a hartal is announced, this will
be updated online, and people planning to travel to Kerala may do better to
visit the hartal calendar before venturing on their journey. It is always good
to postpone the trip, if at all possible. If your travel was planned much in
advance, or is very important, you might have to do it anyway, whatever may be
the risk. In such a case, you may read the following section.
1. Violence
Surprisingly, there
is no risk of personal violence. The protesters may stop your vehicle, if you
are riding in one, and may ask you to get out. If the mob is much agitated,
they may smash the wind screen, but there is no chance that you will be
personally injured.
2. Travel
Flights and railway
are the two modes of transport which will operate without any hitch. Strikers
won’t normally hinder movement of trains. So, if you can reach the railway
station or airport, you can travel freely. On the other hand, all other forms
of public transport will be stopped. Busses will not run, taxis will not ply,
and auto rickshaws will stay off the road, for fear of their wind screens and
tyres. Private transport will not be normally blocked, though many people are
reluctant to take their cars on the road. Two wheelers have no restrictions.
Protesters will not stop them. So, the best way to reach your destination is to
hitchhike on two wheelers, who are generally helpful and would give you a free
lift. But if you have heavy baggage, your options are limited. Private cars may
or may not accommodate you, of course, depending on your appearance! Another
option is to seek help from the Police, who might take you to your destination
on one of your fortunate days.
3. Food
Food is the most
difficult item to arrange on a hartal day. All restaurants will be closed. If
you happen to stay in a hotel with an attached restaurant, you are safe.
Otherwise, if you are on the road, there is absolutely no way to get food and
drinks during forenoon in the case of dawn to dusk hartals. Eateries may
function in the railway stations. It is always advisable to stock up provisions
on the previous day itself. Street vendors generally open their stalls by
around 2’o clock in the afternoon. Basic food items may be obtained from them.
However, if you are exceedingly hungry in the morning, there is not much you
can do other than begging at nearby homes.
4. Accommodation
No problem on this
front. All hotels will function. If you can reach the hotel, the ‘rest’ is
assured.
5. Hartal Calendar
All hartals cripple
public life in Kerala, irrespective of the numerical strength of the
organization calling for it. Keralites don’t want to take risks. So, don’t entertain
the false hope that at least some daring trader would open his shop. Statewide
hartals occur roughly about once in two months and district hartals occur more
often. There are two types of hartals, one is of the lightning variety that is often
called against some political violence. You would get hardly 24 hours notice in
this case. Most often, the next day would be declared a hartal day. One point
to remember is that no hartal would be called on Sundays and public holidays,
because if you do, loss of productivity would be very minimal and the
protesters naturally want to cause maximum loss to the public exchequer. The
second type of hartal is called in protest against a policy of the government,
such as liberalization, hike in petroleum prices, increase in insurance premium
and the like. Here, the notice period would be around one week, so to say. So
how would you know that a hartal is announced on the day you plan to visit
Kerala?
I have started an
online Kerala hartal scheduler, which will be updated as frequently as
possible. You may see the schedule at TeamUp http://teamup.com/ksb4c10e215321a338/.
Or, watch for shortened URL http://goo.gl/Gt9Qpn
No comments:
Post a Comment