Gurgaon, July 28
The call for Gurgaon bandh given by trade unions and individual unions of industrial workers in the city today passed off peacefully and
received a mixed response.The call for the bandh was given mainly by the Joint Action Committee of the trade unions functional here. It was supported by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the BJP and the Sarvakaramchari Sangh in protest against the police lathi charge on industrial workers on the lawns of the Mini Secretariat here on July 25.
While the CPI and CPM leaders claimed that the call for the bandh was successful, the Haryana Pradesh Vaypaar Mandal and the administration clamed otherwise.
The police resorted to a mild lathi charge in Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Manesar, near here, where about 40 industrial workers had assembled and were trying to prevent workers from entering the gates of factories in the complex.
Almost all commercial banks in the city
remained closed and their employees staged a sit-in outside the State Bank of India on the Mehrauli
road. The dharna was staged under the banner of the The National Federation of Bank Employees Union and the All-India Bank Officers Confederation.
Private schools in the city had already declared two days’ holiday, which began yesterday apprehending trouble. The appeal for closing the schools was made by the Progressive Parents Association.
The industrial establishments remained open. Work in some of the industrial units were affected. According to the proprietors of the affected firm, the workers could not reach the workplace as the contractors providing
transportation did not provide their vehicles apprehending trouble.
The areas around the General Civil Hospital, which had been the nerve-centre of the violence and scene of action since the injured workers in the police lathi charge were
admitted, had
the impact of the call for the bandh. In the morning most of the shops in the city’s main market, Sadar Buzzar was closed. But they started business as the day wore on. However, a good number of them remained closed till about 5 pm. Same was the case in the nearby Old Railway road and the New Railway road. However, the shops on the two roads opened in the afternoon.The shopkeepers were a terrified lot on account of the clash between the police and the public outside the nearby Civil Hospital, Hence, they took time to return to their shops. However, there were few customers in the markets.
The lawyers of the district, who were on suspension of work agitation till yesterday to press the demand for quashing of the criminal charges against a lawyer, who was released on bail this afternoon, prolonged their agitation till Saturday. The lawyer, advisor of the Honda Scooters and
Motorcycle Employee Union, was arrested on the day of the police lathicharge at the Mini Secretariat.
With the schools, banks and court not functioning majority of the roads in Old Gurgaon area, in the vicinity of the Civil Hospital wore a deserted look.
Government establishments and academic institutions remained open. However, students were few and far between.
The mandis, including the vegetable market did business as usual.
Mr Bajrang Dass Garg, President of the
Haryana Pradesh Vyappar Mandal criticised those who tried to involve the traders and shopkeepers in the bandh. He particularly charged the INLD leaders of fomenting trouble in Gurgaon and in Haryana with a vested interest of disrupting the progress of the state.
The leader of the BJP in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Ram Kumar Gautam, described the call for bandh successful. According to him, the BJP had given moral support to the call.
The convener of the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, Mr George Fernandes visited Bhondsi Jail to meet the 62 persons
who are in judicial custody. According to the Inspector General of Police, Gurgaon Division, about 28 of them are not workers of the Honda Scooters firm. In the Jail, Mr Fernandes demanded that those in the jail should be sent to the Civil Hospital.
While the Left
leaders claimed the call to be a total success, Mr Gurudass Gupta created a stir by producing an ORS (Oral Rehydrated Syrup) packet from a patient in the
Civil hospital whose expiry date had lapsed. According to Mr Gupta, the ORS was being
administered to two ailing workers.
The Chief Medical Officer of the Civil Hospital, Dr D.V. Sharan, expressed shock saying kind of ORS claimed by Mr Gupta was given by the Centre. They are not administered in hospitals, but in the “peripheries”. According to him, the ORS is
administered in “reproduction and child health” cases. According to
him the ORS packets supplied by the Haryana government are only supplied in hospitals.
The Commissioner, Gurgaon Division, Mr Avtar Singh said although an inquiry has been ordered into the
case, it was not an issue as ORS is not a drug, but simply a solution of sugar and common salt. He lamented that Mr Gurdas Gupta had not produced the packet to the local authorities.
