Two injured, Bangla Bandh evokes mixed response

Kolkata, Oct 9: West Bengal bandh called by Trinamool Congress against acquisition of farmland by Tata Motors small car project today evoked mixed response, even as two party workers were injured when police resorted to lathi-charge to quell violent agitationists, and arrested 1500 of them.

Inspector General of Police, Law and Order Raj Kaniojia told UNI that barring few minor incidents, nothing untoward had been reported so far.

He said a massive security force had been deployed to pre-empt any unsavoury incident, to protect of vital installations and the people willing to work.

Reports reaching the state police headquarters here said the Police resorted to lathi-charge when a section of Bandh supporters at Nabazar suddenly turned violent and set fire in two state government buses. Both the injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

More than 1500 AITC and SUCI supporters courted arrest in several places across the state for putting up road blockades and squatting on railway tracks that affected train services.

The bandh call was given by Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in protest against acuisition of farmland for the Tata Motors Small Car project at Singur in Hooghly district.

Most of the shops and markets remained closed, while vehicles plied in lesser numbers as people decided not to venture out.

However, a strong fleet of government buses plied in the city, even though most private operators went off the road.

Normal functioning was reported in several industries, while attendance in government offices was less than the usual working days.

Official sources said normal functioning was also reported in the tea garden areas in North Bengal.

Some 32 Trinamool Congress and SUCI supporters were taken into custody by the police after both the parties took out separate processions near Hazra and Rashbehari crossings in South Kolkata, hundreds of their party colleagues courted arrests in Howrah, Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and several others in North and South Bengal districts.

Police also resorted to lathi-charge after Youth Congress supporters staged demonstrations and put up a blockade on Howrah bridge.

Train services in both Howrah and Sealdah divisions of Eastern Railway were severely affected today because of intermittent obstructions at different stations by Bandh supporters. Eastern Railway sources here said till noon 14 long distance trains including the Shatabdi Express, Kanchanjungha Express, Black Diamond Express, Ganadevta Express had either left or arrived at Howrah and Seadah stations despite the bandh.

They said on main line sections of Howrah Division train services were disrupted following sporadic obstructions at Shrirampur, Rishra, Seoraphuli Bhadreswar, Balanagar, Janal, Kamarkundu, Purbasthali and several other stations by the Bandh supporters causing severe inconveniences to thousands of passengers.

In one of the major incidents the Assistant Station Master of Rishra cabin was driven out from the cabin by demonstrators this morning, while the morotman of a suburban local was manhandled at Sheoraphuli station before he was rescued by the district police,the sources added.

The bandh, however, had no affect on flight operations at the domestic and international terminals of NSCBI airport.

National airlines Indian operated seven flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Agartala, Silchar, Imphal and Port Blair, as also to Bangkok.

However, the Mumbai flight was delayed by 35 minutes because of a ''congesion of passengers'' doing security check-up, an airlines spokesman said.

A high ranking AAI officials told UNI that till now the bandh had little impact on airport operations with staff attendance being near normal.

The same was the picture at West Bengal's IT hub--Sector V in Salt Lake--which operated normally today with 100 per cent attendance.

''The bandh has failed to put its mark in Sector V,'' Mr Das said.

The state government has arranged for protection of the IT employees intending to attend office, Mr Das said.

During the Left-sponsored all-India industrial bandh on September 29 last year, the Left Front government was embarassed when its trade union CITU ignored the stickers and disrupted the movement of IT and ITeS staff.

The ports at Khidderpore docks in Kolkata and at Haldia functioned normally.

UNI