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Mixed response to union strike on Day 2; violence in Bengal
There was a mixed response to the two-day strike by central trade unions across the country on Wednesday, with few incidents of violence reported in West Bengal and banking and transport services partially affected.
There was a mixed response to the two-day strike by central trade unions across the country on Wednesday, with few incidents of violence reported in West Bengal and banking and transport services partially affected.
At least ten central trade unions, except Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, are protesting against what they is the government’s alleged anti-labour policies and unilateral labour reforms. They had given a call for a two-day Bharat Bandh on January 8 and 9.
General secretary Hind Mazdoor Sabha Harbhajan Singh Sidhu, however, claimed there was a 100% strike in Assam, Odisha, Manipur, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and Goa.
“We got a response in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan as well. In our protest march from Mandi House to Parliament in the Capital, around 4,000 workers came on the road to express their anguish...,” Sidhu said, according to news agency PTI.
Violence, train blockade
Reports of vandalism and violence came from several towns in West Bengal on the second day of the two-day nationwide shutdown. Police said in a statement that 391 people, including 357 men and 34 women, were arrested from different parts of Bengal on Tuesday on charges of disrupting public life.
Train services were disrupted at a few stations in Nadia, East Burdwan and South 24 Parganas districts. Protesters blocked railway tracks at some spots and at others they threw banana leaves over the overhead wires to disrupt trains. Railway Protection Force personnel dispersed the agitators at Shimurali station in Nadia district.
Also read | ‘Government arrogantly ignoring workers’: Trade unions begin two-day Bharat bandh
There were reports of stones being hurled at a bus in Dasnagar in Howrah district that injured two students in the vehicle. A couple of small passenger vehicles were vandalised in the north Bengal town of Cooch Behar. Buses were also targeted in Cooch Behar and Suri in Birbhum district.
Police detained the leader of the Left parties in state assembly Sujan Chakraborty and several agitators for trying to lead a procession from Jadavpur in south Kolkata. He was detained from the same area on Tuesday.
“The facts have to be found out first. It has to be looked into whether supporters of the government committed the act to give the agitators a bad name,” Chakraborty said when asked about agitators vandalising a school bus in North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday.
Chakraborty claimed on Wednesday morning that life was affected in the industrial areas of Asansol, Durgapur and the tea gardens of north Bengal. “However, some busses and vehicles are plying in Kolkata and some were doing so due to intimidation by the ruling party,” he claimed.
Normal life was affected in Goa as private buses and tourist taxis remained off the roads. Long queues of passengers were seen at various bus stands after the private buses association in the state shut operations.
A treasury branch of the State Bank of India in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram was attacked and trains were blocked in various parts of the state on the second day of the strike.
At the Thiruvananthapuram railway station, Thiruvananthapuram-Hyderabad Sabari Express and Venad Express were blocked, while the Kottayam-Nilambur passenger train in Kalamassery was held up for a while.
In many places in Kerala, shops and commercial establishments remained shut. Buses and auto-rickshaws were also off the roads in the state.
Many shopkeepers alleged that they were asked to put down their shutters. Most of the textile and spices shops in the Broadway Market in Kochi and Mittayi Theruvu (sweet street) in Kozhikode were open.
Sabarimala pilgrims, tourists, social and religious functions have been exempted from the strike.
Also read | Bharat Bandh: Sporadic incidents of violence in Bengal on Day 2 of trade union strike
Limited effect on banks
Banking services were partially affected for the second day, as a section of public sector bank employees came in support of the strike call.
However, operations in State Bank of India (SBI) and private sector banks remained unaffected as other seven unions in the banking sector are not part of the strike.
All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees’ Federation of India (BEFI) have supported the strike, which has impacted banking operation where these two unions are strong.
AIBEA general secretary CH Venkatchalam said cash transactions, clearance of cheques, remittances, bills discounting and foreign exchange transactions were impacted. Cheques worth about ₹20,000 crore could not be cleared by clearinghouses all over the country on Tuesday, he claimed.
The unions have alleged that the government has failed to create jobs and grossly ignored unions’ 12-point charter of demands.
They said the group of ministers headed by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on labour issues has not called unions for any discussion since the strike on September 2, 2015, which left them with no other option but to go on another strike.
The trade unions also alleged in a joint statement on Monday CTUs that the government undermined tripartism and continued its “aggressive attack with arrogance on the lives and livelihood of the working people.”
They are also opposed to the proposed amendments in Trade Union Act, 1926, saying those are irrational and extremely damaging to the independent functioning of unions.
(With PTI inputs)
