Left unions' bandh clogs Kolkata, B'lore, Kerala

New Delhi, Aug 20: The countrywide bandh called by the seven Left-wing Central Trade Unions against the government's refusal to accept their six-point demands and 'aggressive anti-people economic policies' began on Wednesday, Aug 20. The strike has been called to protest inflation. It will be effective from 7am to 7pm.

While Kokata was already clogged by floods which disrupted the fligh and train schedules thoughout the city, trade unions strike has bought further woes to the city-dwellers In South, the commuters in Bangalore will have a tougher time because the auto rickshaw unions in Karnataka have decided to take part in the strike called by the CPI. They want the state government to hike fares and also revoke it's decision to allow transfer of rickshaw permits. Life has come to a complete stand-still in Kerala.

Seven trade unions, including the CPI-M affiliated Centre for Indian Trade Unions (Citu) and the CPI-affiliated All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) have called for a nationwide general strike today in protest against the UPA Government's policies.

Employees in various sectors like telecom, railways, defence, banks, insurance, various public sectors along with state and central government employees have declared their support to the protest by the Left-supported unions.

The six-point demands are to contain unprecedented price rise, widening economic disparity, falling real wages and mass-scale violation of the labour laws, rising unemployment and increasing atrocities on labour.

The call for the countywide strike has been given by the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions comprising AITUC, CITU, HMS, AIUTUC, AICCTU, UTUC and TUCC.

Labour leaders say that at least 10 crore employees and workers from the unorganised sector will participate in the massive demonstrations, rallies, picketing and road blockades across the country.

The local units of the BMS and the INTUC are also to be a part of the agitation.

The sponsoring committee, the apex body of trade unions, has made elaborate plans to make the strike successful. Apart from issues like inflation and privatisation, the trade unions will also highlight the Indo-US nuclear deal and disparity in the 6th Pay Commission package.

UNI