Bengaluru: Namma Metro services resumed after a seven hour disruption due to a protest by the Metrol employees against the arrest of their colleagues, on Thursday.
According to a report on NDTV, the protest was called off after successful negotiations between workers and police.
A scuffle had broken out at 6 in the morning at central college metro station. An argument broke out between a metro worker and a constable, after which the police later arrested a few metro workers.
Post the arrest, other workers started protesting. According to reports, counter cases have been registered by both the police and the metro workers.
Sandita, a regular metro commuter pointed out that when public services are stopped consumers should be informed earlier. “I am getting late for my office because the metro is closed. Also, it’s really frustrating as we didn’t get any notice on the closing of the metro. And if something like this is happening, we should be informed beforehand,” she said.
Another commuter, Abdul Javed said, “I have been waiting for the metro station to open from the past 45 minutes. We didn’t even know about any strike, and there was nothing in the newspaper regarding this. It gets difficult when the metro stops working.”
According to the reports, two constables have also been taken into custody by the police, regarding the incident. Six employees were also arrested of which four were let off.
Hindi words on signboards at two Bengaluru Metro stations were on Monday masked fearing vandalism at the vicinity. The step was taken even though no official announcement was made for the removal of the language.
The use of Hindi language by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) prompted a social media outrage, which quickly turned into an offline protest with pro-Kannada organisations holding a demonstration.
ANI