The Hindu : Strike affects life in West Bengal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

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National

Strike affects life in West Bengal

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLKATA. Feb. 24. The general strike called by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and other leftist central trade unions affected normal life in West Bengal today. Almost all industrial came to a standstill.

The strike was called in protest against the ``anti labour, anti people'' policies of the BJP-led Government at the Centre.

The Inspector-General (Law and Order), Chyan Mukherjee, said the information technology (IT) sector reported 35 per cent employee turnout. The day passed without any major incident and attendance was negligible in the State and Central Government establishments, he said.

Indian Oil Corporation's Haldia refinery reported 30 per cent attendance, while Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) recorded 75 per cent.

Sixteen flights operated through the Netaji Subhas International Airport. A few long distance trains could reach the Howrah and Sealdah stations in the wee hours and the rest were stranded at various stations.

``The strike was near complete and evoked a popular response,'' said the CITU state general secretary, Kali Ghosh. ``The strike was most successful West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.''

Irrespective of the best attempts of the Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, to attract investments in the IT sector, the CITU leadership today made it clear that they were in no mood to extend a preferential treatment to the sector. ``What is so great in IT ? We do not consider it as an emergency service and hence, it remains well within the purview of the strike call,'' said the State CITU president, Shymal Chakraborty.

``Strike is a tool to voice our protest and so will it be in the future,'' he added.

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