May 15: The 24-hour Maoist bandh in Jharkhand although remained peaceful today, people faced transport trouble throughout the day.

The bandh was called to protest the arrest of Pramod Mishra, a high-profile Maoist leader.

At the depot of Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) in Ranchi, more than 36 long-distance buses were parked with passengers standing with worried faces.

Ramdhani Gupta, heading for Jamshedpur after reaching Ranchi from Bhagalpur, said that he had never expected such a bandh. “If I had idea that the impact of the bandh will be so major, I would have advanced my travel plan by a day,” he said.

Similar was the situation at Ranchi and Hatia railway stations. Security was stepped up at the stations — both relatively empty except some passengers — with sniffer dogs being taken inside each coach of the trains before departure.

Some trains, including Hatia-Jammu Tawi Express, Ranchi-Varanasi Intercity Express and Jharkhand Swarnajayanti Express, were diverted through Gomoh to ensure safety.

Ranchi senior superintendent of police M.S. Bhatia said that the “situation was peaceful during the bandh”.

In Jamshedpur and adjoining areas, including Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum, the bandh failed to have much impact.

In fact, shops and other establishments remained open in Ghatshila, Chaibasa and Chakradharpur but their number was less.

BSRTC divisional officer (Jamshedpur) Bhartendu Prasad confirmed that long-distance buses did not ply from Mango terminusbecause of the bandh. “Though few passengers turned up, we did not run the buses. A long-distance bus was targeted by the Naxalites during a bandh earlier this year on NH-33,” he said. Some private long-distance buses ran as usual, but their number was less.

South Eastern Railway chief public relations officer Archana Srivastava said that no trains had been cancelled because of the bandh. “As a preventive measure, routes of a few important trains were diverted. Due to diversion, the trains are running late. Things would be normal from tomorrow,” she said.

East Singhbhum superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh said that the bandh was peaceful in the district. “No untoward incident took place anywhere in the district. The administration had taken necessary precautionary steps by deploying adequate number of paramilitary forces and police jawans on national highways and strategic locations,” he said.