By IANS
Kolkata : West Bengal was crippled Wednesday as a 24-hour shutdown called by ruling Left Front constituent All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) to protest police firing on its supporters came into effect.
The toll in the police firing in Cooch Behar district’s Dinhata town, about 800 km from here, rose to six with the death of a police officer.
“A National Volunteer Force (NVF) personnel died late Tuesday night, taking the toll to six,” said Inspector General of Police (North Bengal) R.J.S. Nawla. “The situation in Cooch Behar is peaceful Wednesday morning,” Nawla told IANS.
The shutdown, which began at 6 a.m., affected train and bus services in Kolkata as the protagonists blocked roads and railway tracks in many places in the city and the state.
Buses were plying, although fewer, but there were hardly any passengers as people were scared to venture out of their homes. The city’s metro also was also running but with few commuters.
Operation of flights from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport was normal.
Police said there were sporadic incidents of violence by the protagonists and a few arrests were made.
But the shutdown, supported by the Trinamool Congress, Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) and Congress, was total in Cooch Behar district.
Five activists of the Forward Bloc, the second largest constituent of the Left Front government in West Bengal, were killed and at least 25 others, including several policemen, were injured Tuesday when the police opened fire on “violent” party protestors at Dinhata.
The Forward Bloc had organised a state-wide protest, demanding minimum 100 days’ employment for the jobless, cancellation of special economic zones (SEZs) policy to secure farmers’ land rights, and job quotas for Muslims.
The firing on a constituent of the ruling Left is unprecedented in the over three-decade rule of the communists.