Kolkata, Jul 9 (PTI) Reports of sporadic violence from various pockets in West Bengal and the opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, merging its protests against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls with the trade union opposition to the Centre’s labour policies, formed the highlights of the nationwide general strike fallout in eastern India.
The strike call given by the Joint Platform of Trade Unions – comprising 10 central trade unions and supported opposition parties like the Left, JMM, Congress and RJD – partially impacted public life in the region. Strikers opposed the four labour codes, among other issues.
Strike supporters claimed that coal, banking and other sectors were affected in Jharkhand, citizens and businesses were impacted Assam and Odisha where vehicles, public and commercial, largely stayed off roads on account of transport workers’ bodies extending their support to the ‘hartal’.
Incidents of violence were witnessed in multiple pockets of West Bengal including Kolkata, where Left-wing activists, supporting the strike, clashed with the police and TMC supporters.
Reinforcing its stand of zero-tolerance towards bandhs, the Mamata Banerjee administration came down heavily on strikers, with the police forcefully removing them from spaces where they attempted disruption of public life.
Despite those measures, strike sponsors blocked roads and railway tracks in various parts of the state and tried to force a shutdown of shops and establishments in some pockets in their effort to halt public life. The impact in the state, though, was partial at best.
Banking services, in both public and private sectors, were largely affected across Bengal.
In Bihar, top leaders of the opposition Mahagathbandhan, including Rahul Gandhi, converged in Patna.
The INDIA bloc, of which the Mahgathbandhan is a part, supported the nationwide ‘chakka jam’, but in Bihar the opposition coalition chose to also highlight its reservations against the SIR, which allegedly threatens to “disenfranchise a substantial number of voters”, barely a few months ahead of the assembly polls, to “benefit” the NDA.
Gandhi was joined by RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav besides D Raja, MA Baby and Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretaries of CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML) respectively, in a giant procession.
The march met with barricades in front of the Vidhan Sabha premises where the leaders addressed the gathering.
No violent clashes were reported from any part of the city, which, however, witnessed attempts to block rail and road traffic.
Burning tyres were placed on highways in several parts of the state, throwing traffic out of gear in Muzaffarpur, Nawada, Arwal, Jehanabad and Darbhanga districts.
A massive traffic snarl was also witnessed on the Mahatma Gandhi Setu, the nearly six-km-long bridge across River Ganga, where burning tyres had been placed.
In adjacent Bengal, clashes took place in both the northern and southern parts of the state.
DYFI and CPI(M) workers scuffled with police in Ganguly Bagan area in south Kolkata as well as in College Street in the north as they tried to block arterial thoroughfares, holding rush hour traffic to ransom.
At Domjur in the adjacent city of Howrah, police baton charged bandh supporters who tried to stop buses and trucks from plying.
On Hill Cart Road in the north Bengal town of Siliguri, police removed strike supporters from a road block. In a scuffle that ensued, TV cameras caught a bandh supporter removing the cap of a police officer with a blow.
Cameras also caught the IC of the Banshihari police station in Dakshin Dinajpur district slapping local CPI(M) leader Majidur Rahaman during a verbal spat.
In Birbhum’s Kirnahar, Left and TMC workers clashed when the former group took out a rally in support of the strike. Three CPI-M supporters were reportedly injured and admitted to a local hospital.
Protestors were stopped by the Railway Police Force at Rampurhat station where they tried to block tracks.
Supporters of the strike, which began at 6 am, tried to block train movement at Diamond Harbour and Shyamnagar suburban stations early in the morning.
Tracks were also blocked at Barrackpore, Konnagar, Durgapur, Lalgola, Uluberia and Belgharia stations later in the day.
In Jharkhand, trade union leaders claimed that the production, loading and dispatch of coal in Jharkhand-based mines were completely affected. The claim was refuted by officials of BCCL, CCL and ECL.
Umesh Das, deputy general secretary of Bank of India Employees Union, Jharkhand, said that banking services were affected, excluding SBI and private banks.
In Ranchi, workers of trade unions and political parties jointly took out two rallies.
Commercial vehicles remained off roads in Assam as state units of almost all transport workers’ bodies lent their support to the strike, bringing the sector to a halt.
Power sector workers staged a protest in front of Bijulee Bhawan, which houses the state electricity companies, demanding the repeal of “anti-worker laws”.
Tea garden workers also joined the strike in different parts, raising demand for an increase of daily wage to Rs 351 and implementation of welfare measures.
Vehicular movement in different parts of Odisha, including Bhubaneswar, was affected by the strike which received support from the opposition Congress and BJD. PTI AMR SMY SAN SSG PKD NAC BBM ACD RG SMY NN
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