M A I N   N E W S

Insurance, banking hit in Punjab, Himachal
Tribune Reporters

A deserted head office of the State Bank of India at Parliament Street in New Delhi on Thursday due to the nation-wide strike called by the trade unions. — PTI photo

Employees and members of various trade unions held a rally at local Green View Park and strongly condemned the UPA government for the proposed disinvestment in profit making public sector units, ban on recruitment and denial of right to strike. BSNL employees also held a rally in front of the local telephone exchange.

Shimla: Banking and insurance services in the state were completely paralysed as most of the employees of Central Government undertakings remained on strike.

Employees of banks, the BSNL, the Postal Department, the Accountant-General (AG’s) office, the Government of India Press, MES workers and income tax joined the nationwide strike. It was only private banks like the ICICI, the HDFC and state government-owned cooperative banks, which remained functional.

A rally was organised by the striking employees and CITU, SFI, DYFI and CPM members, criticising the policies of the Central Government which had rendered people jobless. They said that the UPA government was following the policies pursued by the NDA regime.

Employees of the state government public undertakings did not join the strike. Reports of employees of Central Government undertaking joining the strike from other parts of the state have also been received.

Mandi: The All-India labour organisation-led strike paralysed post, insurance and banking services here on Thursday as all banks, insurance offices, post offices and central labour offices remained closed.

Mixed response in Haryana
Tribune Reporters

Panipat, September 29
Normal life was hit in various cities in the state today due to the one-day nationwide strike, the call for which was given by Left-backed trade unions. Work in Centre and state government offices here was severely affected as protesting employees staged demonstrations at a number of places throughout the day and disrupted traffic at a few places.

Official sources in the Haryana Roadways office here informed that most of the buses of the local depot did not ply on the roads as protesting roadways employees remained off work and held protest rallies.

Though no incident of violence was reported from the district, the district administration had made elaborate arrangements to meet any emergency situation. Services in the local government hospital were, however, reported to be normal.

Jhajjar: The call for one-day strike given by the Sarv Karamchari Sangh evoked a good response in the district as the employees of various government departments joined the strike on Thursday. Members of the Roadways Workers Union locked the entrance of the bus stand in the morning while workers of Public Health Department, forest department, electricity department, telecom department and bank employees observed a complete bandh.

The call for the strike was given to register protest against the government’s policies of privatisation and downsizing. While work in most offices was completely paralyzed, essential services like health services in the Civil Hospital and work in post offices remained unaffected. Bus services were also not affected as buses continued to ply in the district.

Workers also held a demonstration and raised slogans against the government. Workers in Bahadurgarh subdivision in the district and MC workers also joined the strike.

Fatehabad: There was mixed response to the call for bandh given by various trade organisations here today. While the strike hit work in banks, insurance companies, roadways and some other offices, work in rest of the offices progressed as usual.

The Haryana Roadways buses did not ply here on Thursday. Buses were seen parked in the bus stand. Mr Sarbat Singh Poonia, state general secretary of the Haryana Roadways Workers Union, claimed that over 18,000 employees had participated in the strike today. He condemned the government for arresting several employees at Kurukshetra, Kalka and Yamunanagar and demanded their immediate release.

Members of both unions of the electricity board observed strike though the supply of electricity remained normal in the district. Employees of the public health and forest departments also observed strike while the attendance of teachers in schools was normal.

Bhiwani: The strike call evoked a good response in the district. Members of the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, Haryana Roadways Karamchari Union, Haryana Bank Employees Federation, All India Bank Employees Association, Sarv Karamchari Sangh, Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh, All Haryana Power Corporation Workers Union, Haryana School Education Board Karamchari Sangathan participated in the strike.

Members of these organisations and trade unions took out a procession from the main markets of the town. Earlier, the protesters assembled at the Nehru Park where leaders criticised the Centre Government for its anti-employee and anti-mazdoor policies and sought the setting up of the Sixth Wage Commission, to hike minimum wages, implementation of labour laws.

They also demanded end of retrenchment and contract system, privatisation of roadways, banks, insurance, units of public sector and telecom and FDI, withdrawal of the Power Act 2003 and National Electricity Policy 2005, sanctioning the right to strike, strengthening public distribution system, stopping police intervention during agitations, bonus for all, and increasing interest on Provident Fund etc.

Rohtak: Bus and banking services remained suspended here on Thursday on account of the Left-sponsored strike. Nationalised banks and offices of the Life Insurance Corporation of India remained closed causing much inconvenience to the common man. However, work in schools and colleges remained unaffected. Employees of the State Power Utilities also joined the strike because of which consumers’ complaints remained unattended.

Employees staged a demonstrations outside their respective offices in the morning.

Rewari: There was mixed response to the strike call here. Employees of local branches of all nationalised banks observed a total bandh while employees of the DHBVN , safai karamcharis of the municipal council, RMS, LIC and a few other departments observed a near total strike. However, Haryana Roadways buses plied almost normally.