Guwahati: Services including banking and public transport were hit in Assam due to the nation-wide strike called by ten central trade unions to protest against “anti-labour” policies of the government.
All nationalised banks, insurance companies and post offices remained closed while buses remained off the road. In the wake of strike, schools and colleges also remained closed, officials said.
Attendance in government offices and private companies was thin though shops and business establishments remained open. Train services were affected in parts of the state withseveral trains remaining stranded or regulated at different places, North East Frontier Railway spokesman said.
Trains are running but behind schedule, the spokesman added. The impact of the bandh was total in Barak Valley with banks remaining closed and buses, including long-distance buses, remaining off the roads. Members of the striking trade union bodies took out protest marches in different parts with the state with the police taking about 500 protesters in preventive custody in Guwahati alone.
The striking unions are protesting against ‘anti-worker’ changes in labour laws like raising foreign investment in sectors like Defense and Railways, rising inflation, unemployment and the Centre’s “indifference” to their demand for better wages.
Meanwhile, normal life was paralysed in Left-ruled Tripura on Friday in response to the one-day nationwide strike call by 10 central trade unions against the government’s anti-labour policy. The state capital wore a deserted look with public transport vehicles staying off the roads, official sources said.
Government offices, banks, schools and colleges remained closed while business establishments kept their shutters down, the sources said. Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) activists were picketing before government establishments.
They also stopped people from entering offices. Though train services have been totally disrupted, the state government provided police escort to people who were going to the airport.
“The central government should look into the demands of trade unions and federations. We are having 12 point demands related to workers,” CITU state General Secretary and CPI(M) MP Sankar Prashad Datta said.
“All trade unions, except Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, took part in this strike and in Tripura people have spontaneously cooperated, that is why there is a total shutdown,” he added.
Large number of policemen were deployed in the city.
There were no report of any incident. Superintendent of Police (operation) Uttam Bhowmik said, “The strike is peaceful and there has been no report of any untoward incident from any part of the state.” (PTI)
