Strike paralyses IT sector

Making it clear that IT is like any other industry for the Left, the day-long nationwide strike called by the Left unions against the 8220;anti-people8217;8217; economic and labour policies of the UPA Government made its impact in West Bengal

Making it clear that IT is like any other industry for the Left, the day-long nationwide strike called by the Left unions against the 8220;anti-people8217;8217; economic and labour policies of the UPA Government made its impact in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, while the rest of the country had a more or less normal life.

All industrial sector were affected in these states. Though CITU has assured that there would be no picketing at the IT hubs, work was affected in these areas. Only in those IT companies where the employees had stayed on last night had its work uninterrupted.

The CITU had publicly assured that there would be no picketing at the IT hub of Salt Lake sector five. The recently formed IT Services Association had also said that it would not enforce the strike. Interestingly, the IT sector in West Bengal was more affected than the IT sector in Kerala. This is despite Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee8217;s call to leave the IT hub in Kolkata unaffected.

Kolkata was completely paralysed by the strike called by Left trade unions. Most of the airlines cancelled their operations today. The strike had its impacts in some pockets of Assam, Orissa,

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Later in a press conference, AITUC chief Gurudas Dasgupta said that IT is not a priority area for the trade unions. 8220;It is like any other industry. It deserves no concessions,8217;8217; he said. When asked whether this is not in contradiction to the party stand, he said that the party has never declared it as a priority. He said that discussions between the UPA Government and the Left parties were not yielding results. Dasgupta warned the UPA government that it will be inviting its own debacle if it does not change its policies. He also said the UPA Government was ignoring the Left viewpoint despite enjoying its support.

The left MPs later held a demonstration in front of Parliament in support of the strike call. They later marched from Parliament to Jantar Mantar, where they addressed a workers gathering.