February 02, 2005 20:50 IST
On Tuesday, two days before the first phase of voting in Bihar, buses, tempos and private taxis were nowhere to be found in areas going to the poll.
The administration had commissioned most commercial vehicles for poll duty.
The vehicles were used to ferry security personnel and polling material.
The ones that were available kept off the roads.
On Wednesday, an 11 km journey from Gaya to Bodhgaya took more than an hour -- there was no transport except a cycle rickshaw.
A day earlier, a trip from Gaya to Nawada district by a tempo cost Rs 900. On the way, one had to plead at three police stations, to let the tempo through and not let it be put on polling duty.
Gaya District Magistrate Chaitanya Prasad told rediff.com, "They go for polling duty. You may not have seen any buses. Our first priority is the election. We will talk later."
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