Mixed response to Bharat Bandh, Life unaffected in Delhi, Mumbai

New Delhi, Sep 20: The dawn-to-dusk bandh called by NDA, Left parties and UPA supporters SP and JD(S) today evoked a mixed response in the capital with most markets remaining closed but overall life was unaffected with Delhi Metro, the lifeline of the capital, and DTC buses plying unintterupted. Small shops were seen open in the morning hours though big markets like Khan Market, Connaught Place, Greater Kailash, Karol Bagh, Chandni Chowk and Kashmere Gate were shut.However, shops in some areas like Bhogal, Laxmi Nagar, Defence Colony and South Extension were open.Autos and buses were operating though auto drivers at New Delhi Railway station staged a protest and refused to ply.Buses of state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) were on roads in large numbers. Most of the private schools remained closed.BJP supporters blocked vehicular movement on Vikas Marg. A BJP spokesperson said they will be staging protests at around 100 locations in the capital.A senior police official said a large number of personnel have been deployed. “We have ensured that every major road has police presence,” he said.The bandh has been called to protest the Central government's decision to allow FDI in multi brand retail and increase in diesel prices. In Mumbai, the trading community downed shutters of shops and commercial establishments, but Mumbai suburban trains, BEST buses, public transport and flights operated normally.NDA's key ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena has not joined the shutdown, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also opted out on grounds of the ongoing 10-day Ganeshotsav festival.The BJP Pune unit also refrained from joining the shutdown on account of Ganeshotsav and the Jain festival of Paryushan.There were no disruptions to air and train services. In Vidarbha, the shutdown impact was seen only among the small traders and shopkeepers opposing FDI in retail. Otherwise normal life was not affected.In Lucknow, Samajwadi Party and BJP workers staged demonstrations and stopped trains at a number of places in Uttar Pradesh in support of the bandh, but most of these protests were photo-ops meant for mediapersons.Protestors stopped trains in Mathura, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow as part of their stir while BJP workers and traders blocked the Agra-Gwalior Highway by burning tyres.Major markets remained closed at a number of places in UP, including Lucknow. Raising slogans against FDI in retail, a group of workers held a demonstration outside the Walmart store at Sultanpur road in Lucknow.Several prominent schools remained closed as a precautionary measure in the city.In Lucknow, BJP's former national president Rajnath Singh led the protest, whereas national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was leading the protest in Kanpur.Reports of similar protests came from other districts including Allahabad where activists of the youth wing of the ruling SP stopped the Bareilly-bound Triveni Express at 5.30 AM on Niranjan railway bridge. They protesters assembled in large numbers along the railway tracks and also burnt the effigies of the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.In Chennai, the bandh evoked mixed response with buses plying on the roads and government offices as well as educational institutions functioning. But shops remained shut and trucks did not run.Banking/insurance operations were affected as majority of the staff did not report for work.In Tamil Nadu, DMK, the two left parties and others have supported the shutdown while the ruling AIADMK government though voicing its opposition to the centre's measures has not supported the shutdown.While the TN government had announced that schools and colleges would function, some private schools announced a holiday much to the relief of many parents.Shimla: Commercial establishments were closed in parts of Himachal Pradesh.State-run transport and private buses and trains were plying but trucks did not. Government offices and educational institutions were also functioning normally.Most of the private hotels and shops were shut in the state as the trade unions participated in the shutdown.The impact of the shutdown was more in major towns like Shimla, Rampur, Theog, Solan, Mandi, Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Dharamsala, Palampur and Kangra.Shimla Beopar Mandal president Ramesh Sood said that there was complete shutdown in the town as the traders joined the protest against anti-people decisions of the central government.Cadres of the state's ruling BJP along with opposition parties enforced the shutdown in most districts of the state, forcing shops in most towns to down shutters.Panaji : The Bharat bandh had no effect in Goa, which is celebrating the second day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.The state government observes a two-day holiday for this festival.While some shops and establishments were closed, it was more or less business as usual across Goa, even as top BJP officials said that it was “impractical” to enforce a bandh while celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, the biggest Hindu festival here.Thursday, the second of the two-day government holiday, saw virtually all private establishments closed on account of Ganesh Chaturthi festivities.Bangalore: Normal life was affected in Karnataka today. Many IT firms declared a holiday.Buses were off the roads, majority of schools, colleges and market places were shut, many IT firms declared a holiday due to the shutdown.Attendance in government offices, banks and private firms was thin.With Karnataka being ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is one of the parties that has called for a day's ‘Bharat Bandh', response to the shutdown was good.Hundreds of train passengers who arrived in Bangalore from different parts of the country were stranded at the three railway stations with no buses and very few autorickshaws and taxis. Those managed to get the auto or cab were fleeced.Cinema houses also declared a holiday.Reports from major educational and commercial towns like Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli, Shimoga, Davangere said normal life was disrupted with markets, schools and colleges shut and buses off the roads.A spokesman for the state road transport corporation told reporters in Bangalore that buses in the capital and intra and inter-state services were not being run as there were no passengers at the bus stands.”There is hardly any passenger in the main city and intra and inter-state bus stand near Kempegowda Circle in city centre. Similar was the case at other major stands like Shantinagar in central Bangalore, Jayanagar in south, Yeshwantpur in north and Vijayanagar in west,” he said.At several places in Bangalore and major towns in the state, the BJP workers took out two-wheeler rallies. Bhubaneswar: The bandh crippled life in many parts of Odisha as passengers and commercials vehicles went off the roads, police said.Passengers also faced difficulties as train services were disrupted since protestors squatted on rail tracks in different places. This forced several trains to remain stranded at railway stations.Shops downed their shutters in many places, including Cuttack, the main retail business hub of the state. Government and private offices, schools, colleges, banks, and other financial institutions also remained shut. Protestors also carried out rallies, marches and demonstrations at different places. In state capital Bhubaneswar, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists carried out a procession shouting anti government slogans.The shutdown, however, had less impact in western parts of the state, including Sambalpur and Bolangir town, as the annual harvest festival of Nuakhai is underway in the region and protestors had decided not to enforce the shutdown.In Odisha, nine non-Congress political parties, including the left parties and the BJP, had given the shutdown call separately. The ruling Biju Janata Dal, however, stayed away from the strike saying that it will cause inconvenience to the people who are celebrating the harvest festival.Hyderabad: Bharat bandh evoked near total response in Andhra Pradesh.Buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) went off the roads in most parts of the state.The road transport came to a grinding halt with over four lakh trucks across the state joining the 24-hour strike since midnight.A section of auto-rickshaw drivers in Hyderabad and other towns too joined the strike.Shops, business establishments and educational institutions were closed in several parts of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Tirupati, Kurnool, Karimnagar and other towns.Police arrested scores of opposition workers who were trying to stop buses and forcing shops to down shutters.In Hyderabad, almost all schools and colleges were closed. The RTC was running few buses while some three-wheelers were also seen plying.Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), the biggest bus station in the state capital wore a deserted look with RTC suspending bus services from districts. Only a few services were running with police protection.Activists of main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), CPI, CPI-M, BJP and TRS laid siege to APSRTC depots since early Thursday to prevent buses from coming out.Those arrested include TDP leader and former Hyderabad mayor T. Krishna Reddy, CPI state secretary K. Narayana and CPI-M leader P. Madhu. They were all held while protesting at MGBS.Osmania University postponed all examinations and admissions to PhD. Other universities have also put off the examinations in view of the shutdown.The bandh is being observed separately by BJP and TDP. TRS is supporting the shutdown while TDP is working with the left parties.Guwahati : Bharat bandh affected normal life in Assam.Markets, shops, educational institutions, banks and private offices remained closed, while long distance private buses and other vehicles were off the roads. Though privately operated city buses did not ply, the government-run ones were seen on the road with auto-rickshaws and cycle rickshaws ferrying passengers.Trains and air services also operated normally, they said.All the state government offices, including transport and power, were functioning normally. The government had issued a notification yesterday to ensure normal functioning and attendance in all government offices and undertakings in the state in view of the nation-wide bandh today.The notification warned that the government would resort to pay-cut, break in service and disciplinary action against employees who absent themselves from duties during the bandh period.All heads of offices and departments were further instructed to deduct pay and allowances for unauthorised absence from offices and duties today and to initiate disciplinary action for such unauthorised absence. Chandigarh: Normal life was disrupted in Punjab and Haryana due to the bandh. Public transport services were hit with state transport undertakings suspending their long route services to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh as a precautionary measure.“We have suspended our inter-state bus services from 8 AM onwards in order to prevent any damage during protests. However, city bus services are operational,” a senior official of Chandigarh Transport Department said. However, a senior official of Haryana Transport department said, “Transport services in Haryana were absolutely normal so far,” adding, bus services to Punjab have been suspended.Many private schools in Chandigarh were closed today in the wake of bandh call. However, shops and commercial establishments in Chandigarh were functional.Railway services in Punjab were normal, DRM Ferozepur Division, N C Goel said.Flights to various destinations from here operated on schedule.However, truckers remained off the road on the call given by All India Motor Transport Congress against diesel rate hike.“Trucks are not operational today to protest the Rs 5 per litre diesel price hike,” North India Motor Road Transport, President, Charan Singh Lohara said.The impact of bandh was visible in several places including Amritsar, Jalandhar, Batala, Ludhiana, Mahendergarh and Ambala where majority of trading establishments were closed.Members of political parties in Punjab and Haryana including BJP, SAD, INLD took out protest rallies and procession at several places including Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amristar, Hisar, Jind, Bhiwani, Sirsa and Fatehabad.A report from Phagwara said that the city wore a deserted look because of bandh as business establishments, shops and bazaars, remained shut down. A few educational institutions were also closed.In Yamunanagar in Haryana, where the bandh was effective, two goods trains were stopped by protesters on Ambala-Saharanpur railway track for about 15 minutes.In Amritsar and Chandigarh, BJP workers led by party MPs Navjot Singh Sidhu and Anurag Thakur joined the protesters demanding rollback of diesel prices and FDI in retail.The bazaars in Haryana's Ambala wore a deserted look.Ranchi: Normal life in Jharkhand was affected by the Bharat bandh. Slogan-shouting bandh supporters squatted on railway tracks in Koderma, Dhanbad and other places disrupting train services for over a couple of hours. BJP activists also put up blockades on national highways, affecting vehicular traffic, in protest against Centre's decision allowing FDI in retail, hike in diesel prices and limiting subsidised LPG cylinders.Work at PSUs was affected following disruption of transportation of coal, iron ore, bauxite and other minerals in view of the stir.Most educational institutions, shops and business establishments remained closed for the day.“The BJP demands immediate roll back of diesel prices and limitation of subsidised LPG cylinders,” party spokesman Pradip Sinha said at a gathering in Albert Ekka Chowk here.Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric-JVM) president Babulal Marandi, JMM vice president Sudhir Mahto, RJD state unit president Girinath Singh and left leaders also demanded immediate rollback of the decisions.JMM and JVM are supporting the UPA government at the Centre. A report from Jamshedpur said train services on Howrah-Mumbai route under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway has been affected as the BJP and JVM workers squatted on track at Rajkharswan, Adityapur, Salgajhuri-Govindpur stations.Railway sources said Howrah-bound Geetanjali Express, and Tata-Gua Passenger were among several trains stranded due to the blockade.The Bhubaneswar-bound Rajdhani Express which was stranded for about half an hour at Adityapur, has left for its onward journey after agitators withdrew the blockade but other political party activists took over the spot soon after, the sources said.Barring some stray incidents of smashing of glass panes of autorickshaw and commercial vehicles in Jamshedpur, the bandh was by and large peaceful so far. Imhpal : Normal life was affected inManipur due to the 12-hour Bharat Bandh. Markets, business establishments, educational institutions and entertainment houses remained closed while attendance in government offices was almost nil. Buses, taxis and private vehicles were off the roads as also transport services between Manipur and neighbouring states, the reports said.The strike also affected normal life at all district headquarters.Dehradun: A near-complete bandh was observed today in Uttarakhand.Most of the shops and commercial outlets remained closed in Dehradun and other major towns and cities of the state with the BJP and other parties' workers holding protest marches and burning effigies of the central government on the issues.The state government has deployed adequate police force to keep vigil at various vantage points in Dehradun and other areas of the hill state. Most of the private schools in the state remained closed.In Dehradun, a skeletal traffic was plying on the roads with people remaining mostly indoors.Thin attendance was registered in government offices and other commercial institutions like banks and post offices. Ahmedabad: The Bharat bandh threw normal life out of gear in the BJP-ruled state with the protest evoking a good response.Life in the major cities was affected due to the bandh.Educational institutions, retail shops, malls, industrial units, banking operations and even transport almost came to a standstill in Ahmedabad.The commercial business hubs of the city like CG Road and SG Road wore a deserted look. Hundreds of BJP workers came out on the streets to enforce the bandh.Transport operations of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) were suspended.BJP workers also tried to halt rail traffic on the Mumbai and Delhi routes.Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has supported the bandh call due to which industrial operations have also been affected.In Surat, the diamond and textile industry which are the two main sectors, supported the bandh due to which both the markets and retail outlets connected to them remained closed.In Vadodara also, the bandh evoked good response.All educational institutes and shops in Rajkot remained closed while petrol pumps and private bus operators also extended support by joining the bandh. “Most of the private bus operators have decided to join in the bandh by closing their service till 5 pm,” sources from the Rajkot Private Bus Operators Association said.While most of the petrol pumps remained closed, the Saurashtra Kutch Transport Association also joined protest which badly affected the transportation of essential commodities like vegetables and milk.Various associations including Rajkot Gold Dealers Association, Tyre Dealers Association, Chemical Dealers Association joined in the bandh while Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry refrained from the protest.“Though the government's policy is directly affecting the small and medium retailers in the country, we did not ask our members to close their shops,” RCCI president Sameer Shah said, adding that the RCCI was against the government's policy on FDI but believed that bandh was not the solution.Rajkot Bar Association also joined in the bandh while BJP state unit president R C Faldu led a rally and shouted slogans against the UPA government near Indira circle in the city.