Lukewarm response to shutdown in Tamil Nadu
By IANSMonday, July 5, 2010
CHENNAI - Normal life remained largely unaffected in Tamil Nadu Monday during the dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by seven opposition parties to protest the hike in fuel prices.
The strike was called by the AIADMK, the MDMK, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the AIMMK, the All India Forward Bloc and the INL.
Buses and trains were operating and essential services like milk vans delivered with security.
Police arrested members of CPI, who blocked traffic outside the central railway station, and members of CPI-M in Guindy here for blocking suburban train traffic. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders P. Radhakrishnan and L. Ganesan were also arrested.
Stray incidents of stone-pelting at buses were reported in few districts, while buses to Karnataka were stopped at Hosur and Erode.
Flights to Kolkata, Kochi and Mangalore were cancelled.
The PMK, which is mulling an electoral alliance with the DMK, stayed away from the strike, terming it as political and not for the welfare of the common person.
The central government last month ended curbs on petroleum pricing and hiked the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas. The price of diesel went up by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene by Rs.3 a litre, petrol by Rs.3.50 a litre and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder.
