BEST buses were pelted with stones in suburban Mulund and Dadar here as the bharat bandh called by the NDA to protest the petrol price hike began on Thursday.

BJP activists staged noisy protests outside Borivali station, at S V Road in Kandivali and also in suburban Chembur.

Local trains and buses were plying as usual in most parts of the city but the number of commuters was lower than normal.

However, transport was hit in Mulund, Dadar, Worli and Currey road areas due stone pelting on BEST buses.

The eastern expressway, the arterial road which connects suburbs to Mumbai saw less traffic than usual as some of the officegoers preferred to stay home in view of the bandh.

Taxis and autorickaws were plying normally. However, leaders of taxi and rickshaw unions have announced that they will take vehicles off the roads in case of any untoward incident.

The dabbawalaas, who supply tiffin to office goers have also taken a day off.

In Pune, protestors damaged 13 Pune municipal transport buses while stone pelting was reported on 10 buses in Nagpur and one bus in neighbouring Thane district.

In Satara, in western Maharashtra, activists stopped some buses by blocking roads as part of the bandh.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai University has announced that there will no change in its exam schedule for Thursday irrespective of the nationwide bandh.

Home minister R R Patil said the government will take stringent action against those creating nuisance during the bandh and has also asked police officials to deal sternly with incidents of violence during the bandh.

In Pune, stone pelting incidents were reported from Deccan and Kothrud areas, police said.

Protestors also deflated tyres of buses at some places.

The buses, however, continued to ply with police protection and a large number of rickshaws too were seen on city roads.

Shops and commercial establishments were partially closed.