The Hindu : Stray incidents mark Trinamool bandh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004

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Stray incidents mark Trinamool bandh

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, FEB. 3. Stray incidents marked the 12-hour bandh called by the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal today to protest the proposed levy of new taxes in rural areas. The call evoked a mixed response, affecting normal life in the city and some district towns.

Three Trinamool MLAs and more than 2,800 party supporters were arrested from different parts of the State for obstruction.

Three policemen, including the officer-in-charge of the Onda thana in Bankura district, were injured while dispersing bandh supporters who had put up a road-block. Policemen trying to disperse a group of people squatting on the railway tracks at Janai Road in Hooghly district were attacked, according to the Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order), Chayan Mukherjee.

Ten State buses were damaged in different parts of the State and the condition of a driver assaulted by bandh supporters in Jadavpur area of Kolkata is stated to be serious. Train services in parts of the State were disrupted as Trinamool workers staged demonstrations on the tracks.

The Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said the bandh "was based on rumours and untruths" and termed the bandh call "irresponsible." He said there was no proposal for levying taxes which would burden the common man. "All that had been proposed was to define areas where panchayats could impose taxes to earn revenue. But this would be done without burdening the common man," he added.

The bandh had no effect in industries, tea gardens and mines. The transport system was partially affected as a result of which schools and colleges and some offices were closed even though the attendance in State Government offices was about 50 per cent, Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

The Left Front chairman, Biman Bose, told The Hindu : "The bandh had been rejected by workers who attended factories and peasants tended their fields." The bandh call was based "on lies, mis-information and rumours and the Trinamool leaders were bent on harassing the people of the State."

The Trinamool leader, Mamata Banerjee, claimed that the bandh was "spontaneous and total''. Her party spokesman, Pankaj Banerjee, said it was "a total success despite the efforts of the State Government to put pressure on the people to oppose it." The police, according to him, "fired several rounds to disperse bandh supporters" in Bankura district. Mr. Mukherjee, however, denied the charge.

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Stray incidents mark Trinamool bandh