Bharat Bandh: Violence, arson across Bengal; normal life disrupted in Punjab; Haryana partially hit

Kolkata/Chandigarh/New Delhi, January 8

Incidents of violence and arson were reported from various parts of West Bengal with buses, a police vehicle and government properties being vandalised by strikers who tried to enforce the 24-hour bandh on Wednesday.

Protesters blocked a major road in Sujapur area of Malda district, set tyres on fire, ransacked government buses and torched several vehicles, including a police van.

When police tried to control the situation, they hurled stones and crude bombs.

The police then baton-charged the mob, lobbed teargas shells and fired rubber bullets, officials said.

In various parts of the state, railway tracks and roads were blocked, affecting normal life.

The protesters burnt tyres and blocked roads in various parts of the East Burdwan district, besides staging sit-in on railway tracks, affecting train services in the sector.

In East Midnapore district, stones were hurled at buses, following which the protesters clashed with the police, leading to several arrests, the officials said.

Several buses were also vandalised in Cooch Behar districts by the protesters.

The bandh supporters tried to break past barricades in Kolkata’s Central Avenue area, prompting police to use force.

Several strikers were held, they said.

In Dum Dum and Lake Town, clashes broke out between Left supporters, who took out rallies in support of the strike, and TMC supporters who were opposing it. A huge police contingent was rushed to the spot to control the situation, the police said.

The strikers also blocked railway tracks at Jadavpur, disrupting services in the important section and shut down vehicular movement on nearby roads, following which police resorted to baton charge. CPI(M) legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty was detained for instigating violence, the officials said.

Members of Jadavpur University students’ union also also joined the strikers and staged demonstration near their campus.

Country-made bombs were found on several roads in Barasat area of the North 24 Parganas district. Crude bombs were also found on railway tracks at some places in the district, they said.

In Kolkata, government buses were plying normally but the number of private buses was less. Metro services were normal in the city and auto-rickshaws and taxis were also seen on the roads.

Slamming the Left and the Congress for trying to enforce the bandh, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that those who do not have any political existence in the state are trying to ruin its economy by pursuing “cheap politics” of strikes.

She said police will take action as per law against the protesters.

Till noon, around 55 people were arrested from different parts of the city for allegedly trying to block vehicles, stall government buses or forcibly stop shopkeepers from opening their establishments, a senior officer of the Kolkata Police said.

Flight services were normal at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport but train services were partially affected in some sectors of the Sealdah, Howrah and Kharagpur sections due to obstruction by protesters.

The Trinamool Congress also took out rallies opposing the strike at some places in north Bengal and urged people to maintain normalcy.

Branches and ATMs of most of the banks in the state remained closed as employees stayed away. Contractual workers also joined the stir.

According to the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), some 28 lakh cheques worth over Rs 21,000 crore could not be sent for clearing.

Staff of the Reserve Bank of India also joined the strike.

The All India Reserve Bank Employees Association (AIRBEA) general secretary Samir Ghosh said strike was successful.

Banking services impacted

Banking services in most parts of the country were paralysed due to the day-long strike call given by 10 major trade unions against the government's "anti-people" policies.

Various states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam witnessed disruptions in banking and financial services.

Several ATMs went dry by the evening as people rushed for cash withdrawal as they had prior information about the strike.

There is usually heavy demand for cash during the first 10 days of a month due to several reasons, a senior bank official said.

In many companies, 7th is the pay day so there is huge rush for cash withdrawal till 10th of the month, the official added.

Employees of public sector insurance companies and the RBI too participated in the strike.

Normal life disrupted in Punjab; Haryana partially affected

The nationwide shutdown call evoked a good response in Punjab as normal life was disrupted, but in Chandigarh and neighbouring Haryana it was mixed amid rain.

There was no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the states.

The activists of several farmer associations were seen asking traders at several places in the Congress-ruled Punjab to keep their shops and business establishments closed to mark the pan-India protest.

Reports of partial shutdown of shops and other establishments were received from Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and other places.

With the state-run roadways unions joining the strike, most of the buses were off the roads in Punjab.

In Punjabi University, Patiala, some students and teachers joined the protest and did not allow the rest to enter the campus. They also condemned the violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

In Chandigarh, shops were slowly opening in some sectors.

However, in neighbouring BJP-ruled Haryana, the impact of shutdown was mixed.

Sufficient security arrangements had been made in both the states to prevent any untoward incidents, said the police.

The strike has been called by trade unions INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC, along with various sectoral independent federations and associations.

Their demands include a minimum pension of Rs 6,000 for everyone, minimum support price (MSP) for farmers, adequate supply of ration to people, she said, adding that the demands concern common man’s issues besides worker-centric areas.

Thousands protest in Delhi

Thousands of members from at least ten trade unions protested in the National Capital today.

Gathered at the Shaheed Park, the members walked towards the ITO intersection and blocked a section of Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.

Holding red trade union flags and braving the winter drizzle, the protesters shouted  slogans "Stop attacking students", "Stop attacking universities", "India belongs to us", "Stop dividing us", and "NRC, CAA, NPR will not be allowed".

They extended support to the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and anti-National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests as also to protesting students, saying these issues are affecting all Indians, including labour.

The demonstration was called to support the all-India general strike called by the trade unions.

They said they are on streets across the country because they are unhappy with the "Modi-Shah government as they have destroyed the country".

15 lakh power sector employees, engineers go on strike

About 15 lakh power sector employees and engineers across the country went on strike in support of ‘Bharat Bandh’.

Power sector employees are protesting against the Centre’s proposed amendments to the Electricity Act as well as other privatisation policies of the government, which they say are against the interest of the consumers and employees.

They are also demanding implementation of old pension scheme for all employees.

“About 1.5 million power sector employees and engineers, including 25,000 in UP, are on the boycott/strike which is a success,” Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), Shailendra Dubey said.

Banking services partially hit in Gujarat                 

Banking services were partially hit in Gujarat due to the nationwide strike.

Transport services were absolutely normal across the state while offices of various business establishments also remained open.

Although trade unions claimed that factory production was hit in many parts of Gujarat, industrialists said it was business as usual.

“Banking services in Gujarat were partially hit as employees associated with All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) joined the strike,” said Dhiraj Desai, general secretary of Bank of Baroda Employees Union.

As a result, some nationalised banks are either shut or are only partially functional, he added.

However, the strike has had no impact on the operations of the State Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Bank of Baroda in the state, as majority of the employees of these banks are associated with other unions, which have not joined the strike, he said.

While some employees of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) joined the strike, operations were running smoothly in all the major offices across Gujarat, a senior LIC official said.

Agencies