Chaos reigned supreme in the south eastern belt of the city for a large part of Monday when 15,000-20,000 garment factory workers from various unions staged a protest against the revised central government notification regarding their provident fund and blocked three-quarters of Hosur Road for over six hours.Protestors took to pelting stones at BMTC buses and police vehicles, injuring some garment workers and policemen in the process, and the city police, who tried their best to contain the situation peacefully, were forced to resort to lathicharge when things took a violent turn.Traffic was an absolute nightmare with thousands of commuters stranded on the streets in the blazing heat, with the congestion extending up to 15km on Hosur Road and surrounding areas.It all started around 8.45 am when police got word of a gathering of 5000 garment workers at Kodichikkanahalli; the workers belonged to Unit 4 of Shahi Exports in Hongasandra, which manufactures clothing for Jockey. The crowd soon swelled to 12,000 protestors – a majority of whom were women – and they reached Bommanahalli shouting slogans and blocking the road to burn tyres.Despite efforts from police and officials from the regional PF office including Regional PF Commissioner–II Amardeep Mishra who reached the spot around 11 am to explain the miscommunication and pacify protestors, they did not budge.Around 12.30pm, the first wave of stone-pelting took place, but just as the crowd began dispersing, another group of 3,000 protestors gathered in front of the regional PF office in Singasandra, attempting to barge inside. It was around 3pm when they pelted stones at the building, breaking the glass and employees were forced to take shelter in the basement; police quickly barricaded the entrance and resorted to lathicharge.Workers claimed the government was withholding money that was “rightfully theirs” and were protesting the revised notification about the provident fund which states the monthly portion of money from employers which used to go towards the workers’ PF would be redirected to their pension funds, and that they could withdraw it only after reaching the age of 58.Though the new notification was issued on February 10, it only reached regional offices in Bengaluru on February 25, and a fresh notification was issued on April 1 giving the office time till May 1 to begin implementing the rule. Since April 30 was declared the last day to submit PF applications if workers wanted all of the money before the employer’s portion was redirected to their pension funds, officials suspect this was miscommunicated and misconstrued to reflect that they would not receive their money at all after the said date.“I have worked at this factory for a decade now, and my PF amount is supposed to be Rs 2 lakh. But I heard that I will not be able to withdraw it until I turn 58 years old; who is to say I will even be alive by then? I need to be able to withdraw all my money whenever I want,” said 20-year-old Varalakshmi B S, an employee of Shahi Garments.Another protestor, Shashikala, from Punit Creations in Bommanahalli, added that they had elderly parents to look after and that they needed every rupee they were entitled to. 10 platoons of KSRP and CAR personnel were deployed and the situation was finally contained around 3.30pm.City police commissioner N S Megharikh visited the spot and termed the incident a ‘flash strike’. “It happened without warning, but we did our best to handle the protestors peacefully since a majority were women. Many policemen were injured in the stone-pelting and police vehicles were damaged. We have spoken to the regional PF officials, and will continue the bandobast on Tuesday as well,” he said.In all, six garments factory employees and 22 police personnel sustained injuries due to stone-pelting by the protestors and lathicharge by the cops. A woman protestor sustained injuries to her face and was rushed to Prashanth Hospital in Bommanahalli for treatment; constable Narendra K S sustained grave head injuries and was admitted to hospital. HSR Layout police inspector Victor Simon sustained a broken nose. A total of four BMTC and KSRTC buses were pelted with stones, and several police vehicles including KSRP platoon buses and official vehicles were damaged.It took me two hours to reach my office near Silk Board Junction from my place on Begur Road. Usually, it takes me only 20-30 minutes, even in heavy traffic. The heat was unbearable too. I was a bit scary when the protesters started getting violent. Every half an hour, they came on the road and started threatening commuters. The traffic cop pleaded with them to allow bikers to leave as the traffic was getting out of control, and people were caught in a mad frenzy. But that didn’t help. Somehow, I managed to reach office.— Rajesh IG, city-based engineerI was not aware of the protest so I left for office at my usual time around 10 am. But my car got stuck in the jam in front of the Bosch factory. I was stuck in the jam till 2 pm and after that left for home. A few bikers broke the iron railing separating the main road and the service road and passed through it; few cars took that route too. Finally, around 3:30 pm, I reached home and started working, but was in a bad shape due to the heat as the AC in my car was not working— J Prakash, techie with Sanovi TechnologiesBecause of the protest and the traffic pile-up, I could not meet my client and took the blame for this from my boss. Even after telling my boss about the protest and the jam, he was not pacified. It was a very difficult day— Akram Ahmed, a marketing managerI had a harrowing time getting home as there was a massive traffic jam from the Silk Board junction. I had to rush home to drop my friend to the airport. But I couldn’t and had to ask him to take a cab. He could not get anyone. Later, he had to take a bike and ride to the airport— Sharath Hegde, a techieBannerghatta and Mysore roads gridlockedThe main cascading effect of the protest was of course traffic congestion. Areas including Bommanahalli, Madiwala, Hongasandra, Singasandra, Kodichikkanahalli, and Electronics City and surrounding localities were worst hit from 9 am to 4.30pm. Entire platoons of KSRP and CAR personnel were stuck in traffic on Hosur Road, which had reached a standstill. Even traffic on the elevated tollway was unmoving, since protestors had blocked the road.Starting from Udupi Garden signal in BTM Layout to Silk Board junction, and Silk Board junction towards HSR Layout and Sarjapur, congestion was at its peak, with zero movement of vehicles including BMTC and KSRTC buses, autos, cabs, tempos, and private vehicles. Scores of commuters including local residents, techies, students, and other working professionals were left stranded outside their homes and offices, with several people forced to walk in the searing heat due to unavailability of transport. Bannerghatta Road and Mysuru Road too were gridlocked due to heavy amounts of traffic spilling over and being diverted there.It took a little over 100 traffic policemen and home guards to bring traffic back to its usual pace after their law-and-order counterparts got the protestors off the streets by 4.30pm.