Panaji/Vasco, Sep 3 (TOI): The nation-wide strike called by 10 unions created a major problem for passengers arriving at Goa international airport and threatened to turn unruly as passengers grumbled against the lack of transport facilities.

The airport authorities quickly swung into action and contacted Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida, who intervened and pressed into service 25 buses to assist passengers to reach their destinations.

International and domestic passengers arriving at Goa international airport, Dabolim, were faced with the prospect of spending hours at the arrival and departure lounge as taxi and buses stayed off the roads in support of the strike.

The four Kadamba transport corporation (KTC) buses deployed at the airport, though adequate for the early morning arrivals, proved insufficient once the major bulk of the flights started arriving in the afternoon.

Fatigued passengers upon exiting the airport were further hassled when they had to wait for over 30 minutes for a bus to drop them home.

"For about one hour we have been trying hard to hire vehicles," Bangalore resident Amber Joshi said.

On an average 60-62 flights land at Dabolim airport per day with the number of passengers varying from 100 to 250 per flight, airport officials said. Several tourists tried to hire vehicles from different parts of the state but received a negative reply. While, some five-star resorts did send their private coaches to pick up clients, the buses refused to move without police escorts.

Dabolim police inspector Brutano Pacheco assured drivers that policemen were deployed along the road to prevent law and order problems. Authorities deployed two constables ineach of the buses that had come from North Goa.

"Around 1pm, the passengers were beginning to agitate and we quickly asked the Vasco MLA for help," a senior CISF officer stationed at the airport said.

Goa tourism development corporation (GTDC) and Kadamba transport corporation (KTC) deployed their coaches at Dabolim airport, and made continuous trips to drop visitors at places of their residence or hotels. GTDC deployed all its nine coaches whereas KTC had seven of its buses at Dabolim airport to transport passengers.

The buses ferried passengers to North Goa and South Goa. The buses dropping passengers to Panaji and Margao charged 100. Later, listening to the demands of the passengers, KTC chairman Carlos Almeida, who was personally monitoring the situation at the airport, directed one bus to Calangute.

The Calangute passengers were charged 200.

Three PCR vans of the tourist security force along with three PSIs and 14 constables were also sent to the Dabolim airport to assure the safety of the passengers. "Though we have hotel bookings and the coaches have arrived, the unnecessary delay has caused us great difficulty. There are no seating arrangements outside the terminal building," Finland national Peter J said.

GTDC managing director Nikhil Desai, when contacted, said they have pressed their coaches at the airport when it appeared that the situation would be bad for want of taxis.

"Our coaches have made continuous trips throughout the day," said Desai. Savio Messias, vice president, travel and tourism development corporation (TTAG), said hotels managed to transfer their visitors to the airport despite the strike, and they co-ordinated well. "We dropped the guests who had flights on Wednesday at midnight. We also informed in advance our guests arriving to make their own arrangements to reach the hotel," said a source at a South Goa-based resort. "We did not do any pickups today."

The strike had a negligible impact on flight operations as several passengers opted to reschedule their flights. "People were aware of the nation-wide strike and we got a lot of calls a few days earlier from passengers cancelling and rebooking flights," station manager Air India Manjari Shirodkar said. "The impact was very little on operations and the number of no-shows per flight was as per industry average," Shirodkar said.

Private no-frills airlines concurred with the view and stated that the only impact on operations was a lower number of bookings per flight, which was expected. "Instead of a booking rate of 80-88% about 75% of the inventory was booked," a representative of a leading no-frills airline said.

While the overall impact of the nationwide strike was total, officials admitted that better co-ordination would have helped. If sufficient KTC buses had been deployed in advance and if volunteers had been placed to assist passengers, the brief confusion would not have occurred, sources said.

Derrick Pereira Neto, managing director of KTC, said they had deployed seven coaches at the airport. Asked about whether buses were posted at railway stations, he said none were posted as KTC had not received any request from railway administration.

The bandh, though peaceful, did affect tourism business as most tour operators chose to cancel their excursion and sightseeing trips which normally form part of their packages.

Cruz Cardozo, president of Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS), said a lot of inconvenience was avoided as hotels had intimated their guests well in advance about the strike.

He said more than 90% of the tourist taxis in South Goa coastal belt were off the road.

Some people were seen rendering their services at double the rate. A couple of men on their motorbikes used this opportunity to make money. Around 1,000 rupees was charged for the drop to Panaji on motorcycle.