Stranded SSC board examinees had a harrowing time as taxis and autos were forced to stay off the streets; MNS workers used private vehicles to ferry students to centres

Commuters, particularly SSC board examinees, had a harrowing time yesterday as taxis and autorickshaws largely remained off the streets owing to the CNG fuel shortage at petrol pumps across the city.
Though few cabs were visible on the streets, they charged astronomical fares fleecing anxious examinees, their parents and office-goers.


No school, mate: Students were the worst affected during the CNG crisis
that kept cabs and autos off the streets. Pic/Anuja Gupta

After learning that commuters were stranded due to the near-strike like situation, Madhukar Jadhav, regional transport officer, Tardeo, deployed his officials at prominent railway stations such as Dadar, Bandra, CST, Churchgate and Mumbai Central to "ensure that taxi and auto drivers do not deny ferrying passengers or charge double for taking them to their destination".

"I also requested BEST officials to increase frequency of buses to help commuters reach their destination on time," said Jadhav.u00a0While cabbies and autorickshaw drivers were making a killing in other parts of the city, some MNS workers came to the rescue of anxious students and their parents stranded on the streets of Dahisar.
Though MNS workers have been ferrying students to and from centres daily since March 1, when SSC examinations started, yesterday they picked up around 50 crying and wailing students and dropped them to their respective exam centres.

Anjali Korgaonkar, a parent from Dahisar, said, "I want to thank the MNS workers who helped my child reach her exam centre in the nick of time. Had they not been there, my daughter's future would have been doomed. When I learnt that there were no autos or taxis plying on the road, I became very anxious. I had to walk all the way to the highway hoping to get a bus, but it turned out to be a never-ending wait. It was around 10.25am when some MNS workers took us the exam centre. The examination was scheduled to start at 11am."

Noble gesture
Another parent Daniel Benjamin, whose son was also appearing for SSC exam, said, "At first, I decided to take my child to his exam centre on a BEST bus, but you never know whether it would reach the destination on time. Luckily, we came across an MNS worker, who dropped my son to the exam centre on time."
Nishad Kora, MNS vice-president Ward 5 and 10, said, "We had decided to ferry SSC students to their exam centres from day one.

We arranged eight private buses and 10 cars of our social workers for the purpose. In a normal exam day, we ferry around 345 students, registered with us, to and from their exam centres. But yesterday we found many students crying on the streets and even parents panicking waiting for buses as taxis and autos largely remained off the streets. We ferried an additional 50 students in the Dahisar and Borivali areas. Whoever was
found with a hall ticket on the streets was asked to board our buses or vans."

Reporter's diary
When I reached Dadar station yesterday, I saw the taxi stand deserted. I walked for a distance and spotted a cabbie.
I requested him to take me to the Traffic Police headquarters at Worli, and he immediately quoted Rs 200 for the service. When I confronted him, the driver said, "Since there is no CNG available, I will have to use petrol. One kg of CNG costs Rs30, while one litre petrol comes for Rs 60. So when I am spending double, why can't you pay double?"
After a lot of bargaining he finally settled at Rs 150.