Anti-price rise strike paralyses life in several states (Roundup)

NEW DELHI - Air and rail transport services were affected, violent protests occurred and shops were closed. Normal life was hit hard in West Bengal, Kerala and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh as activists of 13 opposition parties staged a 12-hour nationwide strike over rising food prices.

The protests were called by the opposition Left Front, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the AIADMK . They were demanding a rollback in the prices of fuels, fertilisers and other commodities in a bid to bring down food inflation that has soared in recent months.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) stayed away from the event.

Air, train and road transport services were disrupted in Kolkata and Lucknow while the streets of Thiruvananthapuram were deserted because of the closure of schools and businesses.

Samajwadi Party (SP) activists in Uttar Pradesh indulged in arson and held violent protests in Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Jaunpur, Meerut and Ambedkarnagar. Police baton-charged protesters in quite a few instances, officials said.

Near 600 SP activists, including state party chief Akhilesh Yadav, were detained as party workers stopped trains, torched buses and damaged public property, police said.

In West Bengal, flights and train services were inoperative and vehicles kept off the roads. Two train passengers were injured in a clash with strike supporters at Pundooah station, railway officials said.

Roads in Kolkata and district towns were deserted and shops, markets and offices remained closed. Exams scheduled for the day in schools and colleges were also cancelled..

Railway Minister and main opposition Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee condemned the Left Front for using \”strong-arm methods\” to enforce the strike.

\”They have made a mockery of democracy. They forced trains to stop, beat up train passengers and at the Kolkata airport, they didn\’t even allow the passengers to go to the toilet. What they have done is inhuman,\” she said.

Kerala saw sporadic violence as clashes broke out in Kozhikode, Kollam, Kottarakara and in Ernakulam.

Though air traffic was not hit, road and rail services were severely affected.

While many banks and shops downed their shutters, attendance in offices was thin across the state.

Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy told reporters in Kochi that the Left-led government in the state had organised the shutdown to \”cover up their lapses\” and asked what it had done to control prices in Kerala.

The strike also crippled life in Orissa as rail and vehicular traffic came to a halt. Train services were affected as hundreds of protesters squatted on railway tracks. Shops and business establishments were also shut.

\”Rail services were hit across the state,\” M.D. Sahu, an East Coast Railway spokesperson, told IANS.

According to Inspector General of Police Arun Sarangi, no violence was reported in Orissa.

In Left-ruled Tripura, most markets, shops, government offices, educational institutions and banks remained closed. Roads were deserted and rail services between Tripura and the rest of the country were disrupted.

\”The strike is peaceful,\” police spokesman Nepal Das told IANS.

Jharkhand too was hit by the strike as shops and businesses were closed and transport services were severely affected.

In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the protest evoked a mixed response.

The Road Transport Corp (RTC) stopped plying buses in several places across Andhra Pradesh as opposition workers demonstrated outside bus depots and raised road blockades, police said. Pro-strike leaders and activists were arrested in Hyderabad and 22 other districts.

Life in Hyderabad was largely unaffected as buses plied while shops and business establishments functioned as usual

While life was largely unaffected in Tamil Nadu, shops in a few districts such as Karur, Gobichettypalayam and Myiladuthurai were closed.

Production in textile units in Karur and Tirupur were hit as workers did not turn up for work.

Congress-ruled Maharashtra was not impacted. Trains, BEST buses and private carriers plied as usual. \”Schools, colleges and offices, are all working today,\” said a police officer in Mumbai.