Poor response to strike call in Punjab, Haryana
By IANSMonday, July 5, 2010
CHANDIGARH - Punjab and Haryana witnessed a lukewarm response to the nationwide strike called by opposition parties Monday against rising fuel prices.
All educational institutes, banks, hospitals, shops and transport services in the region, including Chandigarh, functioned normally.
“I thought buses will not run. But everything is normal and there is no bandh like situation,” Ashish Sharma, a teacher at a government school in Derabassi in Punjab, told IANS.
Manmohan Singh, general secretary of the Sector 19 market association in Chandigarh, said: “There is no impact of the bandh in this area. All shops are open.”
The ruling Akali Dal in Punjab and the opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana have urged the people to join the shutdown.
In the morning, some shops were closed in Bathinda and Jalandhar in Punjab but many of them opened later.
The Chandigarh administration has appealed to people to boycott the bandh call.
