| Font Size |
On Sunday, shops and other commercial establishments remained closed in Pune city, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Hinjewadi, Maval and neighbouring talukas. Some essential services like public transport were running and a few medicine shops and some petrol pumps remained open.Vegetable markets also remained closed on Sunday.
The usually crowded roads, especially in central parts of the city had thin traffic. Not much traffic was seen on highways either. Shop and hotel owners said things would be normal from Monday.
Malls, theatres and hotels remained shut. However, industrial units functioned except for a handful who had given employees the day off to avoid any trouble.
P I Varghese, chairman and managing director of Suvarna Fibrotech, Bhosari said, “We functioned as usual but attendance was down. Similar was the case with several other industrial units in Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari industrial belt,” he said.
No untoward incident was reported from any part of the city. Police said there were no complaints of hooligans forcing closure of shops and hotels.
Shiv Sena leaders said that from Saturday evening to early on Sunday, there was a rush of Sainiks from Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad to Mumbai for the funeral. “We, Sainiks, have been badly shaken by Balasaheb’s death. We can’t put a number, but thousands from Pune attended the funeral,” said Sena MP Gajanan Babar.
Sena corporator Seema Savle said, “Pune city voluntarily observed the bandh which was its own way of paying homage to the Sena supremo.”
Anita Lande, president of Damini Bachat Gat, Pimpri-Chinchwad said, “We watched the funeral procession and the discussion about Balasaheb’s life and times on TV. After news of Balasaheb’s death came on Saturday we cancelled our Sunday outing plans.”
On Sunday, Pune police continued their bandobast that had begun on Saturday. Additional Commissioner of Police Sureshkumar Mekhla said, “The city and Pimpri-Chinchwad remained peaceful throughout the day. All senior officers including deputy commissioners of police were deployed.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) M B Tambade said, “No untoward incident was reported. We had bandobast at 89 points. Two companies of State Reserve Police Force were brought in for additional deployment. From Saturday we were in communication with Sena leaders.”
The bandh hit transport services. Police said no official bandh was announced in Pune, but few rickshaws were on roads until evening. Rickshaw unions had not declared any bandh.
“As it was a Sunday and there was a bandh call by some organisations, people mostly chose to remain indoors. We had not declared any bandh but most drivers chose against working today given the nature of the incident and fear of any attack,” said Nitin Pawar of the Rickshaw Panchayat.
Autorickshaw drivers said earnings were affected. Nazir S, an autorickshaw driver said, “I earn around Rs 200 everyday. Some make Rs 100. Today several of us could not get a single passenger as citizens stayed away to avoid any trouble.”
PMPML spokesperson Deepak Pardeshi said although autos remained off the road, commuter traffic was smooth as there were not many commuters in buses. “Many of our services were plying empty as people didn’t come out. No untoward incident was reported,” said Pardeshi. At the Pune railway station, there was rush of passengers heading for Mumbai in the morning which thinned later.
