Shutdown paralyses life in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR - Life in Chhattisgarh came to a virtual standstill Monday as a daylong shutdown called by the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party against the union government’s decision to increase fuel prices came into effect.

Cadres of the ruling BJP, which along with other opposition parties has called the strike, enforced the shutdown from early hours in all 18 districts.

Shops remained shut, buses were off the road while educational institutions, petrol pumps and cinema halls were closed throughout the state.

While violence has not reported from any where of the state but protesters squatted on the tracks on the Howrah-Mumbai rail route at Raigarh, Bilaspur and Rajnangaon.

The strike was a total success even in urban areas of the 40,000 sq km Bastar region, a Maoist stronghold.