New Delhi, June 5
Normal life came to a grinding halt in Left-ruled West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura today, as the ruling fronts in these states enforced a dawn-to-dusk bandh in protest against the steep hike in petroleum products enforced by the UPA government.
Major roads in Kolkata and Agartala wore a deserted look as vehicles, both private and public, went off the roads in response to the bandh called by the Left parties in power.
However, two-wheelers and private vehicles were seen plying in Thiruvanathapuram, where buses and autorickshaws went off the roads.
The Left fronts in all the three states had yesterday given call for a 12-hour bandh to protest against the increase in prices of petrol by Rs five a litre, diesel by Rs three a litre and LPG cylinders by Rs 50.
Bus, train and air services were affected in both West Bengal and Tripura with various airlines suspending their operations till 6 pm. Air and train services functioned as usual in Kerala.
Various airlines suspended flights from Kolkata for the bandh period. Ahead of the bandh coming into force, 23 flights of various airlines took-off during the wee hours, airport sources said. No flights took-off or landed at the Agartala airport since this morning, official sources said.
Long distance and EMU trains services were also affected in Kolkata due to blockades at different stations in Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol and Malda divisions, while as many as 16 trains, including Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express and Howrah-Ranchi Shatabdi Express, were cancelled.
In Kolkata, the 12-hour bandh passed-off peacefully. Trinamool Congress will observe another 12-hour bandh tomorrow. The bandh paralysed normal life in the entire state, although in the textiles and jute mills in North 24-parganas, Howrah and the tea gardens in the Duars, the
CITU, INTUC and other trade union organisations allowed workers to attend offices.
However, there were no buses, trams and other public vehicles on the streets. All offices, schools, colleges and commercial organisations were closed. Train and air services were also adversely affected.
Meanwhile, the Left front chairman Biman Bose, who is also the CPI (M) secretary, congratulated people for spontaneously responding to the bandh call. He hoped the UPA government would reconsider the price hike decision and warned that they would widen the agitation if no action were taken soon.
Bose advised Mamata Banerjee and her allies to withdraw tomorrow’s bandh call, which he alleged had been politically motivated. Strongly reacting to Bose’s advice, Mamata dared the CPI (M) to withdraw the support from the UPA and accused the party of having double standards on all vital issues. She alleged that while on one hand Prakash Karat and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had been hobnobbing with Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, on the other, they were making a ‘show’ of protest against UPA’s decisions.
