State of the strike: how India was shut down

States ruled by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Left Front shut down on Monday as Opposition parties disrupted transport services and blocked roads during their Bharat Bandh protest against the hike in fuel prices. Markets, schools and colleges were shut too. Here is what happening in places affected by the shutdown.

NEW DELHI

Markets were shut, many schools remained closed and stray protests were seen in the national capital on Monday. Shutters were down in most shops in the city, with small groups of people roaming the streets to enforce the strike, especially to check the stray shopkeepers who had decided to open their shops.

BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh, Janata Dal-United leaders Sharad Yadav and Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur courted arrest during the bandh.

Delhi Police deployed a large number of policeman to maintain law and order.

"More than 100 companies have been allotted to ensure smooth flow of traffic and peaceful demonstrations. Any violent protest will be dealt very strictly," said Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat.

Public transport like buses and autos were plying but their frequency was low compared to normal weekdays.

"Though the buses are running, they are coming late partly because of the jams due to protests and also due to the rains," said Nikita Chandran, a daily commuter.

According to the traffic police, a few demonstrations were reported from parts of the city. "Stray incidents of bus tyres being deflated or being stopped were seen. A few stretches were blocked also but we have cleared them," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg told IANS.

MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA

At least 86 domestic flights were cancelled to and from Mumbai, officials said. While 46 outgoing flights of various private airlines were cancelled due to poor response as passengers could not reach the domestic airport, another 40 incoming flights from all over India were also cancelled for the day.

The usually bustling Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), one of the busiest in the country, wore a near-deserted look as pre-paid and metered taxis and autorickshaws remained off the roads.

Kingfisher Airlines attempted to salvage the situation and combined several of its flights. These include IT-2403 Bangalore-Chennai with IT-4612; IT-2404 Chennai-Bangalore with IT-2406; IT-101 Mumbai-Bangalore with IT-103; and IT-102 Bangalore-Mumbai with IT-104, an official said.

The Mumbai International Airport Ltd, the company which manages the CSIA, arranged with the BEST to provide 20 buses from the domestic terminal and six from the international terminal to transport passengers to various destinations in the city.

Besides, it also arranged for four coaches to ferry stranded passengers to nearest suburban railway stations like Andheri and Vile Parle, an official said.

Large parts of the city and suburbs remained closed during the opposition-sponsored shutdown to protest the price hike of fuel products and other essential items.

Stray incidents of violence, road and rail blocks, stone-pelting of public and private vehicles marred the otherwise peaceful start to the shutdown Monday morning in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra, police and civil officials said.

Most schools, colleges, private offices, malls, multiplexes and other establishments did not open Monday as a precautionary measure, while most government offices reported thin attendance.

While taxis and auto-rickshaws are off the road in the country's financial capital, municipal buses and local trains are plying with very few passengers during the usually crowded morning hours.

Schools and colleges in most areas were closed as a precautionary measure. At suburban Mulund railway station, BJP workers led by former MP Kirit Somaiya were detained while staging "rail roko". In suburban Borivali also, Mumbai BJP president and MLA Gopal Shetty was detained with supporters during a similar protest.

Incidents of stone-pelting on buses and trains were reported from Pune and some parts of Mumbai including Vikhroli, Borivali and Kandivali. However, no one was injured.

WEST BENGAL

Normal life was disrupted in West Bengal as road and rail services were affected and government offices were closed following a 12-hour shutdown called by non-Congress parties in the country.

Supporters of the state's ruling Left held rallies from early morning in several parts here, put road blocks and forcibly prevented people from going to work.

No public buses were plying and roads wore a deserted look. Government offices remained closed as the shutdown turned out to be a government-sponsored strike.

"No untoward incidents were reported across the state. The strike is peaceful. We have deployed policemen to handle any kind of untoward situation and maintain law and order across the state," Inspector General (Law and Order) Surajit Kar Purkayastha said.

Several long distance trains were cancelled and others stranded at different places as political supporters squatted on railway tracks at different sections.

Passengers of the Sealdah and Howrah railway stations as well as the NSC Bose airport were worst sufferers. They will have to wait without food and water till train services resume in the state.

"Train services were badly hit. Bandh (shutdown) supporters squatted on railway tracks, obstructing train movements on different sections. Several trains were stranded and some cancelled," an Eastern Railway spokesperson said.

Kolkata's lifeline - Metro Rail - were also disrupted, despite assurances that metro services would run smoothly. Left supporters with flags and banners crowded in front of different metro stations and forced metro employees to shut station gates.

On Sunday, metro authorities had assured that measures would be taken to run metro services smoothly. Also, all metro employees were asked to attend their duties on time.

Shutdown supporters did not spare city's information technology hub also. Hundreds of Left activists organised rallies and prevented IT professionals from going to offices.

"The bandh will be a successful one as people of West Bengal are supporting the bandh call wholeheartedly. No untoward incidents were reported. The bandh has been peaceful by and large till now," Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretariat member Shyamal Chakraborty said.

At the NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata, only Air India operated its flights since morning. Five domestic flight including Kolkata-Delhi and Kolkata-Mumbai had taken off besides the Kolkata-Singapore international flight. However, private airlines did not operate their flights, airport sources said.

In the city, roads wore a deserted look in the absence of any traffic. Shops and most of the markets were closed. This was the second bandh in the state after the hike in price of petro products. Earlier on June 26, CITU had give a strike call in the state to protest fuel price hike.

A report from Siliguri said normal life was paralysed in six districts of north Bengal due to the bandh. Shops, business establishments, educational institutions, and banks remained closed and vehicles were mostly off the roads. Attendance in all state and Central government offices was negligible, officials said.

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha has extended support to the bandh in the Darjeeling hills.

KERALA

The shutdown was total in Kerala, a Left-ruled state, with schools and colleges shut and public transportation going off the roads.

Attendance in private and government offices was minimum and all educational institutions were given a day off. Shops and markets across the state remained shut.

All university and public service commission exams scheduled for the day were also postponed.

Public transport services did not operate, much to the inconvenience of people arriving at railway stations and airports. However, private vehicles were seen plying.

Ruling Left Democratic Front legislators walked from the legislators' hostel to the assembly, shouting slogans against the central government.

Several ministers reached the assembly on foot. During question hour, the opposition raised banners against the strike.

In the assembly, the Congress-led opposition sought leave for an adjournment motion and senior Congress leader G. Karthikeyan said that the Left government was hurting the common man by holding a second shutdown in a space of less than 10 days.

"It is a shame that the Left is joining hands with the BJP to trouble the people. This is happening at a time when thousands are suffering from fever and are finding it difficult to reach hospitals," said Karthikeyan.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, however, said that the number of shutdowns held by the Left was few in the last four years.

"We are the least guilty for calling a shutdown because we do this to correct the wrong economic policies of the central government and we request you also to join us in our fight against it...We will call a shutdown again if the need arises," said Achuthanandan.

Before leading out the entire opposition, leader of opposition Oommen Chandy said: "If we were to conduct shutdowns like you do, then in the past we should have done so several times...how many times did the price of milk go up, the price of electricity has also increased and the local taxes have also been hiked by your government, but we did not call for a shutdown."

KARNATAKA

The shutdown was near total in Karnataka, ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, with schools, colleges, private offices and commercial establishments shut and state-run buses and private taxis and autos off the roads.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, which runs bus services in the state and to neighbouring states, and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, which services the IT hub, withdrew their buses after several of them were stoned in Bangalore and other parts of the state, Transport Minister R. Ashok told reporters here.

All IT companies, including bellwethers Infosys and Wipro, schools and colleges had Saturday announced that they will be shut Monday.

With taxi and autorickshaw unions extending support to the shutdown, only a few of these vehicles were on the roads, charging exorbitant fares from the commuters.

The state government offices and banks were deserted with no customers and only handful employees. The state government employees association is supporting the shutdown.

Only essential services like milk supply and pharma shops were exempt from the shutdown. But majority of the pharma shops remained closed in most of the areas in Bangalore.

Roads were deserted as only few ventured out as shopping complexes, malls and cinema theatres were also shut. The 12-hour shutdown ends at 6 p.m.

UTTAR PRADESH

Rail routes were disrupted and several trains stopped in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, officials said. "Samajwadi Party activists were detained in parts of the state for stopping trains and targeting public property," a police officer said.

Party workers took to streets in several districts. They also stopped several trains in Allahabad, Varanasi and Jaunpur.

"We have rounded up six Samajwadi Party workers near Phaphamau railway station for disrupting rail route and stopping the Ganga-Gomti Express train for some time," Additional Superintendent of Police S.S. Bhaghel told reporters in Allahabad, about 200 km from Lucknow.

"Additional security has been deployed at railway and bus stations. Security around prominent buildings and shopping complexes has also been strengthened," he said.

Senior BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley joined hundreds of his party activists in courting arrest in Lucknow. Amongst the other leaders who courted arrest near the party's office along the Vidhan Sabha Marg were Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Lalji Tandon.

ANDHRA PRADESH

The nationwide shutdown called by opposition parties on Monday to protest the hike in petroleum prices affected normal life in Andhra Pradesh. Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed while bus services of the state-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) came to a grinding halt.

The shutdown called by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Left parties separately is supported by Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP).

Leaders and activists of the opposition parties staged sit-ins outside RTC bus depots across the state, forcing authorities to suspend bus services. Hundreds of buses could not come out on the roads.

In the state capital, RTC was operating city bus services partially. However, services to destinations outside Hyderabad were cancelled. Buses going to Tirupati temple were exempted from the shutdown.

All schools, colleges and universities remained closed while Osmania University postponed all examinations.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu and leaders of Left parties were arrested while holding protests against price hike in Hyderabad on Monday.

Naidu was taken into custody along with several TDP leaders and activists when they staged a road block in the busy Ameerpet area.

Tension prevailed as Naidu’s supporters tried to resist his arrest for sometime. The protest caused a huge traffic jam in one of the main commercial areas in the city.

Holding TDP flags and raising anti-government slogans, the protesters squatted on the road, demanding an immediate rollback of the hike in petroleum prices.

Naidu later told reporters that the nationwide shutdown called by the opposition was a "grand success" as all sections of people were taking part in it voluntarily.

"The government has to realise the seriousness of the price hike and roll back the hike. The opposition protests will continue until then," the former chief minister said.

The other main protest in the city was held at the Road Transport Corp (RTC) crossroads where the Left parties staged a road blockade.

Police arrested Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary K. Narayana and Communist Party of India-Marxisr (CPI-M) leader B.V. Raghavulu apart from others.

Police kept Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president G. Kishan Reddy under house arrest to prevent him from participating in the protests. Kishan Reddy termed the police action "undemocratic".

The BJP leader was told that it was done to prevent protests during the presence of President Pratibha Patil.

Police made elaborate security arrangements to prevent protest demonstrations around Ravindra Bharati, where the president attended a programme.

BIHAR

Several trains were halted and road services hit in Bihar as workers of the Left parties and the NDA protested the fuel price hike in the country.

Supporters of the BJP, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Left parties stopped over a dozen long route trains at the Patna, Hajipur, Gaya, Darbhanga, Jehanabad, Araria, Bhagalpur, Ara and Muzaffarpur railway stations.

"Several trains were halted to enforce the shutdown," a police officer told IANS.

Roads, particularly National Highways 31, 28 and 30, were blocked at various places. In Patna, busy roads like Ashok Rajpath, Bailey Road and Fraser Road were blocked by the shutdown supporters.

"Road services were also hit. No long route buses are plying. Highways are deserted as trucks halted at different places," the police officer said.

Government and private schools and colleges were closed. "Exams scheduled for the day in schools and colleges were also cancelled," said an official of the education department here.

Shops, markets and offices stayed shut. In the busy income tax square of Patna, dozens of people were beaten up by the BJP workers.

In Patna, hundreds of women activists, including homemakers, from the non-political group Rashtriya Mahila Brigade took to streets and protested. They held placards, posters, banners and swords, shouted slogans and demanded withdrawal of the fuel price hike.

They disrupted train services at the Rajendra Nagar terminal here for over three hours by squatting on railway tracks and then blocked the busy Dak-Bungalow Square in Patna that hit road traffic completely.

"The state administration have made elaborate security arrangements in view of the shutdown," said a senior government official.

In Bihar, shutdown is likely to be total as BJP and JD-U are the ruling parties and the Left parties have strong support base in half-a-dozen districts.

The opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party have not joined the shutdown and have instead called for a separate shutdown July 10.

ORISSA

Bandh supporters picketed various Central government and PSU offices in Orissa to prevent employees from reporting for duty and road and rail traffic disrupted in the state today due to the bandh called by non-Congress parties.

Buses, trucks and privates vehicles stopped plying, leaving a large number of passengers stranded. Rail services were also affected as bandh organisers stopped trains for a brief period at several places. Shops, business establishments and trading outfits downed their shutters across the state though some chemist shops remained open for sometime at a few places, sources said.

In the state capital Bhubaneswar and commercial nerve-centre Cuttack, roads wore a deserted look with buses and auto-rickshaws keeping off the roads while police made elaborate arrangements to prevent any untoward incidents .

While the ruling BJD and supporting parties like CPI, CPI(M), Forward Bloc, RJD, SP and JMM enforced the 12-hour hartal, the BJP is separately observing a country-wide bandh demanding roll-back of the hike in fuel prices.

JHARKHAND

As many as 700 people were arrested in Jharkhand during an opposition-sponsored strike against rising fuel prices that closed down schools and shops and hit road and railway services. Long-route buses went off the roads and trains were stopped in Giridih and Dhanbad among other places, inconveniencing the commuters.

As a precaution, schools in almost all districts were closed. Most shops were also shut.

In Ranchi, BJP and JD-U activists enforced the strike. Many burnt tyres on the main roads of the state capital. "More than 700 strike supporters, a majority of whom belong to BJP and JD-U, have been arrested from different parts of the state," a police spokesperson told IANS.