By IANS,
Kolkata : Air, rail and road traffic was disrupted and life came to a standstill in West Bengal Thursday following a 12-hour shutdown called by the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front against the petroleum products price hike.
Communist cadres squatted on railway tracks, pulled passengers out of taxis, picketed before railway stations and took out processions waving red flags as the administration remained a mute spectator to the coercive tactics adopted by the ruling party workers.
Markets and business establishments remained closed, raising the hackles of industrial honchos.
“These shutdowns send wrong signals. Regular work atmosphere comes to a halt due to these sort of agitations,” Ambuja Realty Group chairman Harshvardhan Neotia told IANS.
The government played its part in ensuring the shutdown’s success by not plying state buses while a nagging morning drizzle added to the holiday atmosphere that has become a familiar feature in the state during frequent strikes called by political parties on sundry issues.
Foreign tourists were inconvenienced when the New Jalpaiguri-Darjeeling toy train, given heritage status by the UNESCO, was stopped near Siliguri town in Darjeeling district by CPI-M activists.
Air passengers driving to the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport were harassed by agitators who stopped their vehicles. Most of the flights to and from the city were cancelled with the airline companies deciding not to fly their fleet with few passengers on board during the shutdown period.
The decision was taken to cut down losses following the rise in petroleum prices, said a source.
While 21 flights took off and two arrived at the city upto 7 a.m., flights later in the day did not operate.
Schools, colleges and universities were given unofficial holiday across the state. Examinations were postponed at various educational institutes causing harassment to students.
The attendance at different government and private offices including Writer’s Building – the seat of West Bengal government – was negligible.
Train services became a major casualty as squatting political activists affected all the long distance trains. A large number of express trains, including the Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express, were cancelled putting passengers to difficulty at the Howrah Station.
“We came early morning from Bangalore. We wanted to take a train to our home at Bankura district. But the shutdown did us in,” said a downcast Naba Samanta, stranded at the station with his wife and two-month old child.
Suburban train services across the eastern and southeastern railways in the state also came to a halt due to blockades at different stations where the metro railway operated irregularly with the agitators picketing outside the metro stations.
The North Bengal tea gardens remained unaffected, despite protests from those supporting the shutdown in the morning.
According to West Bengal inspector general (law and order) Raj Kanojia, no political violence was reported.
“The shutdown has so far been peaceful,” said Kanojia here.
Protesting the central government’s decision to hike prices of petroleum products, the Left Front gave a call for statewide shutdown Thursday (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) even as the main opposition Trinamool Congress has called for a similar shutdown Friday.
The price of diesel has been increased by Rs.3 a litre, petrol by Rs.5 and that of cooking gas by Rs.50 per cylinder.