A passenger waits for a bus near deserted ticket counters at the Ramgarh terminus. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, July 22: The urban areas looked normal on the first day of the 48-hour bandh called by the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) but the uneasiness in the countryside was palpable.

The bus stand at Ramgarh wore a deserted look as drivers and conductors huddled together and dozed; some played cards while others were busy reading newspapers.

As many as 200 long-distance buses, coming from Jamshedpur and Ranchi, pass through Ramgarh everyday, claimed one of them. But on Tuesday only one bus had passed and a few more brave drivers would perhaps leave at night, he added wryly. The arms of one such intrepid driver was broken by MCC activists at Charhi (Hazaribagh) a few months ago.

A handful of trucks, buses and trekkers were visible on Ranchi-Muri, Ranchi-Ramgarh and Ranchi-Jamshedpur roads. But the traffic was so thin that the roadside dhabas were almost completely deserted. Reports came in from Koderma that bandh supporters had “deflated” the tyres of the few buses which ventured out on the road.

Ironically, they allowed buses carrying saffron-clad pilgrims to pass. Also, for the first time the banned outfit had kept schools, hospitals, emergency services and the media out of the purview of the bandh.

A row of shops selling fruits was open at Ramgarh. But there were few buyers around. Explained Md Irshad, “We opened the shop and brought the fruits out of the boxes in a bid to delay their decay; they would have rotted faster if we had kept them in boxes. But while on a normal day we sell fruits worth around Rs 1,500 each, today we would be lucky to get Rs 100 at the end of the day.”

Even as the government concentrated on maintaining train links, long-distance road traffic virtually came to a halt. No long-distance bus left Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Chaibasa. Sanjay Kumar Singh, a BSRTC employee, said: “Every day about 60 to 70 buses leave Ranchi for places like Patna, Gaya, Tata, Bhagalpur, Siliguri, Buxar and Gorakhpur. But today not even a single bus started from Ranchi. Also there were no buses which came to the capital.”

Janardhan Singh, timekeeper, pointed out: “There are 40 buses which travel to Jamshedpur alone. Then about 12 to 13 buses go to Balia, Siliguri, Dhanbad, Nawada, Gaya. Nothing concrete has been decided for tomorrow. All will depend upon tomorrow’s situation.”

Passengers had a harrowing time waiting for the buses. Sitaram Singh, an agent at the Ratu Road bus stand, said: “Who is going to take the risk when there is an MCC bandh going on?” The railway was also affected by the bandh. South Eastern Railway has diverted a large number of trains in a bid to avoid routes going through MCC strongholds. Many of the trains consequently are expected to run behind schedule. Passenger trains in the Muri-Barkakana section were all diverted and ran behind schedule.

According to divisional commercial manager D.Kullu, the 8603 Jharkhand Swarnjayanti Express, which runs from Muri to Barkakana, is running via Muri-Bokaro-Gomo-Mughalsarai. The 8611 Ranchi-Varanasi Express is running via Muri-Bokaro-Gomo.

Chief controller U. Vishwakarma said: “8601/8101 Tata-Hatia Jammu-Tawi Express and 8602/8102 Jammu-Tawi Hatia-Tata express will run via Muri-Boakro-Barkakana on July 23. The Ranchi-Varanasi Express will run via Muri-Bokaro-Barkakanaon Wednesday and 8612 Varanasi-Ranchi Express will run via Muri-Bokaro-Barkakana on Wednesday.”