Kolkata/New Delhi : Scores of flights were cancelled as a 24-hour nationwide strike called by eight trade unions against rising prices and privatisation disrupted life in parts of India, particularly those ruled by Left parties.
The strike was virtually complete in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-ruled states of West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala, while it evoked mixed response in states like Tamil Nadu and tepid reaction in Karnataka.
The financial capital Mumbai and the national capital New Delhi were relatively unaffected except for commuters who were hit with autorickshaws joining the protest.
According to G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president of the Congress-backed Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), around 100 million workers and employees from sectors including banks, insurance, coal, power, telecom, defence, port and dock, road transport and petroleum and unorganised sectors such as construction joined the strike.
"The strike is 99 per cent successful," the Rajya Sabha MP and convener of the Coordination Committee of the Central Trade Unions, which called the strike, told IANS from Hyderabad. The strike, he said, was being held to "reassert" the bargaining power of the trade unions.
According to him, government leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, wanted to discuss the workers' demands. He said senior central ministers had already contacted him for this. The workers want a check on price rise of essential commodities, pro-active measures to protect employment in recession-hit sectors, strict enforcement of all basic labour laws without exception, Rs500 billion (Dh42 billion) for an unorganised workers' social security fund, and a halt to privatisation of central public sector enterprises.
The demands found resonance in West Bengal, where life ground to a halt in most parts, crippling commercial activities and road traffic.
Cancelled
However, with the opposition Trinamool Congress bringing out processions, a few shops and markets opened as the day wore on.
More than 100 flights run by private airlines to and from Kolkata were cancelled in advance.
Kolkata, which bustles with activity on normal weekdays, saw empty roads as vehicles did not venture out. The strike was total in industrial areas like Taratala. Government and private buses did not ply and most people chose to remain indoors.
Clashes between CPI-M and Trinamool Congress erupted in several places.
