New Delhi: Public sector banking operations remained paralysed throughout the country while transport services were hit in some states as the nation-wide 24-hour strike called by 11 major trade unions evoked a mixed response.
Life in major cities, including capital Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, was normal though it was affected in states like Kerala, Odisha and Tripura while the strike had a mixed response in West Bengal where the Trinamool Congress government pulled all stops to neutralise the strike. In West Bengal, shops, markets and business establishments were mostly closed in some areas, while state-run buses and trams plied with fewer passengers.
Life was normal in some Trinamool Congress strongholds, including Behala, where shops were open and vehicles plied as usual. Attendance at the West Bengal state secretariat, Writers’ Buildings, was at an ‘unusual’ 65 per cent in the wake of the warning to state government employees by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that absence from duty will be treated as break in service.
Central trade unions have sponsored the strike demanding guarantee of labour rights, end to the contract labour system, bringing workers in the unorganised sector under the social security net and pension benefit for all workers. In the country’s commercial capital, Mumbai, the strike had a partial impact with financial institutions getting affected.
Barring banking and insurance sector, which have a large presence of trade unions, normal life was largely unaffected in the metropolis with all essential services especially public transport functioning as usual.
“The shutdown in the banking and financial sector has been complete. The RBI’s clearing houses are shut. So the private and foreign banks where we do not a have a presence, also get affected,” General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association, Vishwas Utagi claimed.
In Delhi, the strike had little impact though normal functioning of PSU banks were affected and a number of autos and taxi drivers kept their vehicles off the roads to take part in the protest. Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana witnessed disruptions in the banking and transport sector. Reports pouring from various places in the region said buses on several routes remained off the road in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh even as officials were persuading employees not to join the strike. With major bank unions observing the strike, financial transactions came to a halt in all branches of public sector banks in the two states.
However, banking services in private sector banks were not affected Normal life was hit in Kerala due to the strike with buses keeping off the roads and shops remaining shut.The strike also affected functioning of banks and offices as pro-Left unions in the state sector also joined the protest against the “neo-liberal economic and labour policies” pursued by the UPA Government at the Centre. The Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala has enforced ‘dies non’ (no work-no pay) order against the strike in government offices. In West Bengal, over 100 pro-strike supporters were arrested in different districts for obstructing rail and road traffic and a reporter of a TV news channel was assaulted at Ganguly Bagan area in a clash between pro and anti-strike supporters. CPI(M) leader and former minister Kanti Ganguly alleged that Trinamool Congress supporters ransacked the CPI(M) zonal office at Ganguly Bagan area in Jadavpur in the morning. (PTI)