Bandh paralyses state

No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the state. While 110 persons were arrested in Kolkata,109 of them were from the SUCI which staged a demonstration at Esplanade East and one from the BJP. In the other districts,no arrest was reported. At some places in Kolkata BJP workers seemed to be more aggressive in enforcing the bandh than the comrades .

“It was a spontaneous,incident-free bandh and people supported it wholeheartedly. We congratulate them for this,” CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose said at the party’s Alimuddin Street headquarters at the end of the strike.

The BJP,which also called the bandh on the same issue,said that the UPA government should take this bandh as a referendum and roll back the price hike of fuel. “It was a spontaneous bandh and the UPA government should take a lesson from this,” said state BJP president Rahul Sinha.

Tinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said,“The BJP and the CPI(M) are hand in glove and this was proved today. We were the first party to oppose the fuel price hike but we will continue to support the UPA government,” Banerjee said at her residence.

At Dum Dum airport,it was only Air India which operated five domestic flights including the Kolkata-Delhi and Kolkata-Mumbai and one international flight (Kolkata-Singapore). The bandh caused disruption of train services of both Eastern and South Eastern Railways throughout the state. Ten trains of South Eastern Railways,including long-distance ones like the Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express and the Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express,were cancelled.