Bharat Bandh enters day 2; banking, transport services hit partially on 1st day
India’s first major protest after the conclusion of an important round of state polls – the Bharat Bandh strike – led to a partial disruption of banking and transport services on Monday as the two-day agitation kicked off. The 48-hour protest has entered the second day on Tuesday, and the impact is expected to continue. The strike has been called by a group of trade unions who have been expressing concern over several government policies, calling them “anti-worker and anti-farmer”.
Here are ten points on the two-day Bharat Bandh strike as it enters the second day:
1. Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh among others – the first day of protests registered a response in several states where transport and banking services took a partial hit.
2. In Kerala, the high court was compelled to issue orders restricting the government employees from abstaining from work, calling it illegal. A majority of government offices were impacted on the first day of the Bharat Bandh.
3. The southern state came up on the empty streets and the state-run KSRTC buses did not operate while taxis, auto-rickshaws and private buses kept away from the roads across the state.
4. Bengal registered demonstrations from the Left-backed agitators who blocked train tracks and also protested on streets. The Mamata Banerjee government had been criticised by the Left for not supporting the strike call against the centre after the state government employees were told to not miss offices.
5. According to police, some government buses, were ransacked by supporters of the strike in north Bengal, especially in Cooch Behar district. Mamata Banerjee, on a four-day tour of north Bengal, asked the police to file FIRs.
6. Haryana commuters, including students, also supported the strike on day 1 as state-run buses remained off-roads. Transport services were effected in Karnal, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Rohtak, Ambala, Yamunanagar and Kaithal districts. Over 100 workers of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) took part in a protest in Gurgaon near Delhi.
7. The protest found support from some lawmakers also in parliament. Rajya Sabha MPs from the Left and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam staged a protest at the Gandhi statue when the Rajya Sabha was adjourned till noon due to disruption in proceedings by the opposition over rising prices of petroleum products and over trade union protests, news agency ANI reported.
8. The strike has been called by the Joint Forum of Central Trade Unions after the provident fund interest rates were cut down in a move that attracted a lot of criticism. Increasing fuel prices and privatisation of central public sector undertakings are also other issues that have been raised.
9. Apart from 10 central trade union, independent sectoral federations and workers’ associations are also participating in the protest.
10. The trade unions said workers from coal mining areas of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh also participated in the protest.
