Renowned actor Naseeruddin Shah on Tuesday had to remain stranded for hours at the Guwahati airport in Assam due to non-availability of public transport following an 11-hour bandh called by various organisations in protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
A number of groups including North East Students’ Union (NESO), All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), 30 other organisations and political parties called for a bandh in the Northeast in protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
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The Bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A report published on Tuesday by NDTV stated the air passengers complained that they faced a lot of difficulty during the bandh hours as there were no taxis, auto-rickshaws or buses to either reach the airports or reach the city after landing.
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The bandh remained effective from 5 am to 4 pm. However, transport was available after the bandh.
Actor Naseeruddin Shah arrived in Guwahati on Tuesday to attend the Kartik Hazarika National Theatre Festival which is being held at Tezpur in Assam’s Sonitpur district.
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The report quoted the organisers of the festival as saying that Shah had to wait for two hours at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport till the organisers arranged a car for him after the end of the bandh period.
It has been reported that in all the airports, hundreds of passengers remained stranded due to non-availbility of any mode of transport.
The Jet Airways authority issued a waiver on penalties for the passengers who could not fly on Tuesday.
Informing about the waiver, the Jet Airways on its official Twitter handle stated: “Considering the situation in the Northeast India, we’ve issued a waiver on penalties for date/flight change, refund, no-show, fare difference if any, on all confirmed tickets for flights operating to and from Guwahati, Silchar, Jorhat, Imphal & Aizawl on 8th January 2019.”
The report also stated that GoIndigo also advised its passengers to keep extra time in hand for their travel to the airport keeping in view the non-availability of taxis.
On Tuesday, the All Assam Joint Forum of Motor Transport Workers also called for a ‘chaka bandh’ on Tuesday over their demands.