By IANS
Kolkata : A dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) has failed to evoke any response in West Bengal.
The shutdown was called Tuesday to protest against corruption in the rationing system and seek punishment of guilty police officers in the mysterious death of Rizwanur Rahman.
Barring a few incidents in South 24 Parganas district adjoining Kolkata, where the party has some presence, the shutdown failed to affect life as buses, taxis and private vehicles plied and shops and business establishments remained open.
Railway officials said the services were normal except for some places in South 24 Parganas, especially Jaynagar station, where the protestors blocked tracks.
“The shutdown did not have much effect in the state. There were some incidents of protests and minor troubles in some places in the state but no major incident was reported. We have made some arrests,” West Bengal Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia told IANS.
The Information Technology (IT) hub Salt Lake in Kolkata functioned without any hitch Tuesday while airport officials said the shutdown did not affect flights.
SUCI state secretary Pravas Ghosh said the shutdown was called also to demand arrest of policemen and others involved in the March 14 Nandigram killings when police resorted to firing killing 14 people in the trouble-torn area of East Midnapore district.
Trinamul Congress, the main opposition party in West Bengal, has not supported the SUCI shutdown though it has called a programme to immobilise the state Wednesday over the fresh spurt of violence in Nandigram.
Meanwhile, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-backed State Coordination Committee strike over the Union government’s decision to do away with defined pensions has affected work in government offices, including state secretariat Writers’ Building.