Throughout the day, the buses of Punjab Roadways Transport Corporation and mini buses, which mainly catered to the rural passengers stayed away from the roads and thus led to a lot of harassment to the passengers.

According to sources,”Only 25 buses from Ludhiana bus terminus left for their daily destinations to Fazilka, Delhi, Chandigarh, Manikaran Sahib etc and that too before 9 am. Afterwards, the bus service remained suspended for various other stations within the state and for other states also. To avoid any unsavoury incident, very few buses of other states came to the city.”

Radical Sikh organisations like Dal Khalsa and others had given a call for Punjab Bandh to protest against the failure of the government to punish those responsible for 1984 riots. Various Sikh organisations including Damdami Taksal, Sikh Students Federation (Mehta), Khalsa Action Committee (KAC) etc had supported the call.

While, the Mini buses did not ply today, Jaswinder Singh Grewal, president of the Mini Bus Service Owners Association, Ludhiana, said, “In support of bandh call, we remained off road today.”

Meanwhile the bus-bound passengers remained at the receiving end as they had to either opt for trains or for private taxis. The radio cabs also did not provide their services today.

However the auto-rickshaws kept plying as usual. The movement of private vehicles also remained unhindered.

PEPSU Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC) also provided its services to the commuters. Surinder Singh, general manager of PRTC, said, “We provided 80 to 90% bus services in the state.”