As Govt & TMC look for Singur key, CPM locks down state

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Kolkata, Aug 20: to ignore the `public utility' tag granted by state law to the 24x7 sector.

With only ambulances and press cars allowed to move on the roads, there was no public transport available, bringing all activity to a halt.

At government offices, it was an unofficial holiday with the only sign of activity being at the chief minister's conference room at Writers' Buildings. No other minister attended office.

Having forced life to a halt by using cadres, CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty hurriedly called a press conference at 2pm, barely eight hours into the 24-hour bandh, to gloat over the "success" of the "peoples' protest" against the "anti-people policies" of the Congress led UPA government.

"I do not think that a one-day strike will scare away investment or hurt industry," said Chakraborty. He said the CITU had given notice well in advance of its intention to call a general strike today.

Business was cautious in its response to a ruling party bandh. An official of the Confederation of Indian Industry (eastern region) said: "We would like a conducive environment for industry… Bandhs should be minimized".

The best reaction came from three French tourists, who landed at the city airport today at 5.30am, before the strike began but found themselves stranded.

"This is my first and last visit to Kolkata," said Christoph Buland, who has been in India for the past three weeks and had made Kolkata his second-last destination. "I don't know if I will reach Delhi tomorrow." Buland and his two friends are scheduled to fly back from Delhi via a Finn Air flight.

The CITU said the biggest indicator of its success was that electricity demand fell by 542mw in the Kolkata area, and by 666mw in the rest of the state, on Wednesday.

It said the strike shut down 63 jute mills in and around the city, apart from industries and offices, and the Durgapur-Asansol industrial belt.

The general strike was called over a clutch of diverse demands under the general banner of "the Central government's anti-people policies."