The strike called by 1.5 lakh workers at the ports translated into a loss of around Rs 60 crore for the 11 major ports in the form of dues. Estimates for the central customs and excise departments could not be gauged but it is reckoned that this could run into crores of rupees.

Twenty one vessels were idling at the berths in Mumbai port, inclusive of 19 ships at the Indira Dock and two at the Princess and Victoria Dock. However, oil vessels (one each) at the Jawahar Deep and New Pirpau were not hit by the strike.

"Worker attendance from class 3 and 4 was 11 per cent at MbPT," said secretary SG Tahiliani. Staff at the fire & safety and medical departments were not part of the strike.

At the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, officials said that `nothing was moving' due to the absence of around 1,800 (direct employees) workers. At JNPT's container terminal only one parcel size vessel of around 2,800 TEUs belonging to CMB Contship consortium was held up in the strike.

"The vessel has a fixed window (free time) of 72 hours. We will try to sail it by employing two or three cranes," said senior manager, container terminal, JNPT, Sumitra Rao. According to him, workers would take over from port officers (now in the three-shift pattern) at midnight.

The strike called by the National Platform of Mass Organisations (NPMO) to protest against the government's economic policies included the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu), All India Trade Union Congress (Aituc) and Hind Mazdoor Sabha.

Certain unions affiliated to the Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc) and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha (BMS) decided to stay away but observed a protest day.

"This is beginning of a fierce struggle to set right anti-worker government policies aimed at unemployment caused by closure of units, privatisation and glabalisation," said vice-president of All India Hind Mazdoor Sabha and president, All India Port & Dock Workers' Federation (Workers), Shanti Patel.

All India Port & Dock Workers' Federation president SR Kulkarni said several thousand workers of the Food Corporation of India, both in the docks and various godowns in Maharashtra and Gujarat, went on strike.

The dock workers' demands include a ban on privatisation of PSUs, immediate wage settlement, lifting of embargo on wage revision of PSU employees and no deployment of contract workers.

"As for oil companies, attendance was normal," said Raja Kulkarni, president, National Federation of Petroleum Workers (India) and Indian National Chemical Workers Federation.

In the insurance sector, the worst hit were LIC and GIC whose employees reiterated their decision to resort to another token strike after the IRA Bill is introduced in parliament.

In the airlines segment, Indian Airlines (IA) flights operated on schedule except for three flights to Calcutta which were cancelled following a total strike by workers there, said a company spokesperson.

"With the support of the airline officers and some workers, we have managed schedules successfully," said the official, adding that till 6 pm, 20 flights operated with an 80 per cent seat factor.

The Bhubaneshwar service was, however, cancelled due to low seat factor and two morning flights to Bangalore were combined and the same repeated in the evening again due to low load factor.

Of around 15,000 members of the Air Corporation Employees Union, about 50 per cent reported for work all over the country while this was 20 per cent for Mumbai. Flights to Calcutta operated by private carriers were also cancelled.

According to officials of the Indian banks Association (IBA), work was paralysed in UCO bank, United Bank of India and State Bank of Indore. However, the State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda operated normally.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) clearing house conducted normal transactions while the call money and government securities markets saw brisk trading.

Advocate SS Desai, the chief advisor of the Sangh, said that in Vidharba attendance in government offices was 70 per cent, while in Aurangabad and Solapur it was around 80 per cent. In Mantralaya, the headquarters of the state government, attendance was only 35 per cent as most of the staff members were away in Nagpur for the winter session of the state legislature.

Police control rooms in Mumbai, Thane district and the adjoining Navi Mumbai township said that the strike was peaceful. The Thane-Belapur Industries belt also was not affected as it was a weekly holiday today.

The sessions court and Bombay high court wore a deserted look as the class III and IV employees were agitating for implementation of fifth Pay Commission recommendations. Most of the cases were adjourned.

Junior college teachers of the state as well as a section of employees of All India Radio and the Doordarshan continued their indefinite agitation, though they were not directly connected with the agitation.