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Mixed response to bandh against petrol price hike

KOLKATA: The nationwide bandh called by the NDA and Left parties to protest the petrol price hike on Thursday evoked a mixed response amid incidents of stone pelting, arson and road blockades in Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

In the national Capital, the bandh did not evoke much response though party supporters blocked traffic in some places.

Small shops were seen open in many areas in the morning while commuters complained that there were fewer autos on roads as a number of auto and taxi unions have joined the protest.

In the financial capital, Mumbai, bandh supporters pelted stones at buses in two suburban areas of the city. Elsewhere in Maharashtra, activists pelted stones at 13 buses in Pune, 10 in Nagpur and Thane districts and stopped some buses by blocking roads in Satara district. Local trains and buses were plying as usual in most parts of Mumbai.

The bandh disrupted normal life in parts of BJP-ruled Karnataka where bandh supporters set on fire three buses and stoned about a dozen others forcing authorities to withdraw bus services in the city. Public transport was hit and shops and business establishments remained shut in several parts of Karnataka.

There was no impact of the bandh in Kerala and a lukewarm response to the stir in Tamil Nadu.

In Bihar, NDA convener and JD-U national president Sharad Yadav and BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain were among 800 activists taken into custody while enforcing the bandh.

Yadav, who along with 700 odd supporters took out processions in Saharsa town to enforce the call, was taken into custody.

Hussain, the BJP national spokesman, and others were detained in Bhagalpur town while trying to enforce the bandh.

Yadav demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resign immediately for the “failure” of his government to control the spiralling prices of petroleum products and essential commodities.

In West Bengal, bandh supporters blocked some roads in some areas and squatted on railway tracks.

Bandh supporters blocked the Howrah Bridge, which connects the metropolis to the Howrah district. They also blocked roads at Chapadali more in Barasat, in Bankura district, Budge Budge and some other places, the police said.

However, buses, cars, taxis, trams were running in the metropolis though in less number.

Normal life was affected in Punjab due to the strike.

Commercial establishments in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Batala, Kapurthala, Pathankot and Amritsar remained closed, though factories and other industrial units were operational.

The impact of bandh was also visible on the transport network with buses including private ones remaining off the road, causing inconvenience to people, as per reports pouring in from various districts including Patiala, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Kapurthala.

However, in Chandigarh, shops and commercial establishments remained open and buses were plying as usual.

In Congress-led Haryana, the bandh call did not evoke much response with shops and commercial establishments remaining open at most of the places in the state.

Markets were closed in major cities of Rajasthan and private buses off the road due to the bandh.

The unprecedented hike in petrol prices has helped the Left and the Right to make common cause for the nationwide protest, described by BJP and its allies as Bharat Bandh and by Left as All-India Protest Day.

This is the second time that the BJP, Left and other non-Congress parties will be coordinating their agitations since the last Lok Sabha elections to give the impression of a wider Opposition unity on issues concerning people.

A similar agitation against petrol price hike had happened on July 5, 2010.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, which is supporting the UPA government from outside, has also given the bandh call as has BJD in Odisha. — PTI

5 killed as Doon Express derails

Jaunpur: Five persons were on Thursday killed and 50 others injured when several bogies of the Howrah-Dehradun Doon Express derailed near Mahrawa Station here.

The incident took place this afternoon, Superintendent of Police, Jaunpur, Akash Kulhari told PTI.

“Five persons have been killed and 50 injured in the accident”, he said.

Relief and rescue teams have been rushed to the spot from Varanasi and Lucknow. — PTI

Nupur Talwar’s bail plea rejected

Allahabad: Nupur Talwar’s bail plea was on Thursday rejected by the Allahabad High Court, causing a huge setback to the dentist who is facing trial in the murder of her 14-year-old daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi turned down the application of Nupur Talwar who had moved the High Court after her plea for bail was rejected by a special CBI court at Ghaziabad earlier this month.

Holding that there is prima-facie evidence, the Ghaziabad court had ordered framing of charges of murder and destruction of evidence against the dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar.

The court had also ordered framing of additional charge of misleading the investigations against Rajesh, who had filed a police complaint at Noida police station that his 14-year-old daughter was murdered by domestic help Hemraj.

The body of Hemraj was found on May 17, 2008, at the terrace of Talwars’ residence at Jalvayu Vihar, a day after Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom.

According to CBI counsel Anurag Khanna, “in the open court, the honourable judge said nothing more than that the bail application is rejected.

“Contents of the order are likely to be known later in the day but we can say that the High Court has upheld the lower court order passed earlier this month whereby her bail application was turned down,” he said.

The trial court had on May 2, rejected Nupur Talwar’s bail application. She had surrendered before the trial court on April 30 following a stern direction from the Supreme Court which had also refused to stay the non-bailable warrant issued against her by the lower court upon her failure to appear despite issuing of summons.

Nupur Talwar had moved the High Court challenging the lower court order and it was claimed by her counsel Amit Srivastava during the course of arguments that both she and her husband Rajesh Talwar, who along with her has been named prime accused in the case, had been given a “clean chit” by the CBI in its closure report. — PTI

Gen V.K. Singh retires today

NEW DELHI: General V.K. Singh, who took over the reins of the Army 26 months ago with an image of an anti-corruption crusader, will retire as Army Chief on May 31, bringing to an end a controversial tenure that was marred by rows over his age and fissures among the military brass.

The 62-year-old Singh, who will hang up his boots after 42 years of service, will be succeeded by Eastern Army Commander General Bikram Singh, who will have a tenure of two years and three months.

General V.K. Singh, who took over as the Army Chief on March 31, 2010, with an image of honest, firm and upright officer, will leave behind a legacy of controversies, starting from a row regarding his age.

Even as controversies clouded the last few months of his tenure as the head of the 1.3 million-strong force, he had laid the road map for transformation of the Army into a lean and mean fighting unit.

He had also flagged concerns over the shortage of arms and ammunition and impressed upon the Government the urgent need for immediate steps to shore up purchases.