i had a bitter firsthand experience today private operators charged about four to five times higher than usual they finally took lift from a colleague who drove them aroundi management student tovi sema from dimapur and friend tuhuk missed their flight home as they reached the airport late from their guest house on ryod street they forced passengers to get off the bus on vip road and pelted it with stones the government should have talked to them and avoided this mess said saith but the transport minister subrata bakshi clearly turned down any probable proposition to revise the fare structure immediately the prepaid taxi counter is closed a private car operator demanded a ridiculous amount of rs 1000 to sudder street knew bengal was infamous for bandhs and strikes it is frustrating to get into such situation in an unknown city said tovisarat bose road resident meena bose who had flown in from bangkok in the afternoon said we have suffered bandhs and strikes all these years reports of buses being damaged by strike supporters also trickled in i know they are taking us for a ride but what is the way out asked bokaro resident virendra prasad who flew from bangalore with family we have been stranded for almost an hour and we have the rajdhani express to catch from howrah luckily we got a volvo to esplanade said cathere from australia and frances anthony a colleague helped us by wasting his day and this is a loss to bengal said veer the minimum any private car operator is asking is rs 800 delhis raj veer and sachin sharma on an official assignment to city were aghast i left home three hours in advance it was a frustrating experience said siraji who was traveling to ghatshila for a conference in the absence of taxis the volvo service proved to be the most beneficial rahul saith of elgin road was seen calling up friends as the transport strike caught him unawares with taxis and minibuses staying off road on thursday air and train passengers were left at the mercy of private vehicle operators who did not bat an eyelid while fleecing them bakshi said that already the people are under much economic burden and for that the state government is not planning to increase the fare schoolteacher shadiq hassan siraji of picnic garden took two auto rickshaw rides and then hopped onto a bus to reach howrah station moreover the strike call was given by some district bodies so the government will not talk to any factional groups if any centralized transport body is willing to discuss with us we are open to talks six buses were attacked in howrah leaving two drivers injured he had also arrived by air asia flight from bangkok with a new government i had thought there would be a change but it seems unlikely those on strike may have a point because of the fuel price hike but i am sure they did