Road services, banking, insurance services hit in North West

Chandigarh, Dec 14 (UNI) Road traffic was partially affected in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh while banking, postal and insurance activities came to a halt throughout the North West region as trade unions, affiliated to the Left parties, went on a 24-hour strike to protest against the economic and industrial policies of the UPA government.

In the Union Territory of Chandigarh, daily commuters faced many problems as the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) remained off the road till 1400 hours. Roadway employees of the CTU and of Haryana and Punjab held a protest rally at the ISBT here.

The protestors, under the banner of the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions comprising CITU, AITUC and HMS and others, took out a rally in the city demanding the implementation of their 16-point charter of demands. They asked for a legislation to protect 370 million people in the unorganised sector, check violation of labour laws and stop the move to disinvest profit-making PSUs and a comprehensive legislation for agricultural workers, among other things.

They were joined by labour unions of the private sector as well.

Employees of multinational soft drink companies also took out a rally in support of their demands.

A report from Kurukshetra started that hundreds of employees of Haryana Roadways, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) and Haryana Tourism (HT) raised anti-government slogans in front of their respective offices. The offices of the HVPN and the HT restaurants remained vacant as employees did not report for duty.

The Haryana Roadways allowed local green-line buses to ply between Pipli and Kurukshetra University to enable the students and state employees to reach their destinations in the morning.

The usual hustle and bustle in the bus stands of the region was missing as state transport buses were seen parked in the depots.

Some buses did leave in the early morning but as the day advanced their services virtually came to a halt.

Although power supply in Punjab remained uninterrupted, employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) held rallies at various places to protest against the proposed move to privatise the power sector.

A report from Ludhiana said road traffic was affected from 1200 hours to 1400 hours in the state. Protestors squatted on NH-I and other highways and as a result, traffic to New Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Ferozpur remained suspended for two hours.

A report from Shimla said employees of the postal, insurance and banking sectors held a joint rally in the capital and raised slogans against government policies.

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