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Nationwide strike hits transport, banks New Delhi, September 29 Reports from different rates indicated that the strike had paralysed banks, post offices and insurance companies in Mumbai, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Assam. Air operations in most parts of the country were also affected as nearly 20,000 employees of the Airport Authority of India went on a 12-hour strike in protest against the decision to privatise Mumbai and Delhi airports. Most airlines either cancelled their flights or clubbed them especially in the northern and eastern airsectors of the country. The strike was sponsored by the National Platform of Mass Organisations (NPMO), a grouping of 56 Left-oriented organisations to press for a 20-point charter of demands as also to protest the Centre’s attempt to reform labour laws. The countrywide one-day strike evoked mixed response affecting industrial and commercial activities including banking operation, insurance companies and air services in some parts of the country. “There will be some inconvenience to the people going to banks or insurance companies. But, we will do our best to see that the inconvenience is not there,” said Finance Minister P Chidambaram after a Cabinet meeting. On losses due to the strike, he said though there may be a marginal loss, it would be difficult to estimate the loss. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel claimed that the operations at the airports throughout the country, including Kolkata, remained unaffected during the dawn to dusk strike. While private sector banks operated as usual, state-owned banks and insurance companies were almost completely paralysed by the strike putting people and business into severe discomfort in view of the fact tomorrow also there will be no public transactions because of “closing”. ATM operations came to the rescue of a harried public. Chidambaram gave an assurance that the banks will work extra hours on Saturday to clear the backlog. Disputing Chidambaram’s statement that the impact of the strike was “marginal”, the trade unions — CITU, AITUC, AICCTU, HMS and TUCC — asserted that the strike was “massive success”. “I have not seen such a widespread strike throughout the country before. If the government does not yield to our demands, there will be larger strike and for longer duration,” Gurudas Dasgupta of AITUC said at a joint press conference. Criticising the UPA for following the previous NDA policies with greater vigour without safeguarding interest of workers, he said “let government read the writing on the wall and change the policies. Otherwise, country will be in peril.” Terming the strike as “biggest ever since globalisation”, CITU leader M K Pandhe said it shows the dissent of working class on various economic policies like hike in the prices of petrol, water and electricity charges. If the government does not change its policies and abide by the CMP mandate, he said trade unions will discuss future course of action at Indian Labour Conference on December 9-10. “The chorus of labour law changes has been revived, reportedly at the instance of Prime Minister himself,” the unions alleged referring to two bills — Labour Laws Bill and SME Development Bill — which were introduced in Parliament without any consultation with trade unions. The trade unions also criticised government for flatly ruling out another Pay Commission to revise the salaries of government employees.  |
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