Telangana shutdown heroes: Bikers were waiting outside railway stations to give lifts

Not just at Nampally station, these 53 bikers dispersed in batches, after a meeting on Monday night, at Secunderabad railway station, GPO, Jubilee and Kacheguda bus stands to ferry people who would be stranded. Had they realised the severity of the survey before, they would have mobilised a bigger support service, admits Rahool Saxena, member of the Wanderers, Bulleteers of Hyderabad biker group, who sent out the call to fellow bikers. Soon members of the xBhp biker group also joined them.

Rahool elaborates on the severity: “At GPO, Abids, a man approached us saying that he was in an emergency. I asked ‘What’s the emergency?’ He said ‘I am one the enumerators of the survey... I have to reach Ameerpet’. I thought this was funny. The government was trapped in its own plan.”

“We even gave rides to cops,” he adds, pointing out, “Since we were in black T-shirts, cops initially thought we are protesting against the survey.”

Then there were tourists who wanted to be ferried to Golconda Fort, others to hotels, some wanted to be taken home from hospitals, one student from Allahabad wanted to reach Ameerpet to pay his fees, women needed to be dropped till Mehdipatnam etc.

However, there were some autorickshaws on the roads despite the shutdown.

But this wasn’t exactly a good news. Senior biker M.A. Kaleem of xBhp says, “They were out for a kill. They were charging people 10 times the price. I am sorry to say they had no sympathy. We are not questioning the survey, but the government should have thought about those who were travelling to Hyderabad.”

And whatever little help these bikers offered earned them a lot of goodwill and blessings. “We gave a lift to a priest who had come from Jagannath Puri. He blessed us for 10 minutes. We are glad we could help,” adds Kaleem.