Left Front to work for success of December 14 strike

Kolkata, Dec 9 (UNI) The ruling Left Front in West Bengal today decided to extend "all out support" to the proposed nationwide strike by 56 mass organisations, including CITU, in protest against the UPA Government's economic and industrial policies.

Front Committee Chairman Biman Basu told reporters that the Left parties would organise campaign rallies in favour of the bandh in front of all sub-divisonal offices in the state on December 12 and 13.

To a question, RSP leader Manoj Bhattacharya said the strike would cover the state's IT sector, which remained unaffected in the last two bandhs that the state had already witnessed this month following seperate calls by the Trinamool Congress and the SUCI-CPI(ML) Liberation combine respectively on December one and five in protest against acquisition of agricultural land at Singur for the Tatas' small car project.

The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Government, going whole hog for wooing investment in the state, made all arrangements for security and transport to keep alive the IT hub in the Salt Lake area.

While speculations were doing rounds whether the administration would take similar measures to maintain normal life on December 14, the Government yesterday told Calcutta High Court that it would make all necessary arrangements to protect the government and private property during the bandh.

Advocate General Balai Roy also gave an undertaking to a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice V S Sirpurkar and Justice Arun Kumar Mitra on the possible security arrangement to run the transport and trains in the city and the districts on the day of the strike.

On the basis of a petition by All India Minority Federation, the court asked the state government to secure life and property on the day of the strike.

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