New Delhi, May 31: Buses were stoned, some of them were set on fire as the nationwide Bharat Bandh call given by the NDA and Left parties today evoked a mixed response. There were stray incidents of violence in Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal and blockade of road and rail traffic.
BJP and Left leaders were detained at several places amid reports of buses and commercial establishments refusing to down their shutters being targeted by their activists. There were no reports of disruption of flights.
In the national capital, the bandh evoked a partial response, as BJP supporters blocked traffic at some places putting commuters to hardship. Office establishments reported normal attendance.
Left leaders Prakash Karat, A B Bardhan and Sitaram Yechury and BJP leaders including Ananth Kumar, Vijay Goel and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi courted arrest or were detained while leading the protests at different areas in Delhi.
In the country's financial capital, Mumbai, 42 BEST buses were damaged and two drivers injured due to stone pelting by protestors at various places in the metropolis.
Two bus drivers were injured in the incident. However, there were no reports of any injuries to passengers, police added.
Elsewhere in Maharashtra, activists pelted stones at 13 buses in Pune, 10 in Nagpur and Thane districts and stopped some buses by blocking roads in Satara district Local trains and buses plied as usual in most parts of Mumbai while Banks reportedly witnessed thin business.
Holding placards and shouting slogans against the government, protesters blocked roads and squatted on rail track in several cities.
The previous nation-wide agitation against petrol price hike following a call by the NDA and the Left took place on July 5, 2010.
The bandh disrupted normal life in parts of BJP-ruled Karnataka where bandh supporters set afire three buses and stoned about a dozen others forcing authorities to withdraw bus services in Bangalore. Public transport was hit and shops and business establishments remained shut in several parts of the state.
The movement of tourists were affected at several places in the North-East and Goa since vehicles stayed off the roads.
There was no impact of the bandh in Kerala since it was observed the day after the steep petrol hike was announced on May 23 and while it evoked a lukewarm response in Tamil Nadu.
Since the ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK, a UPA ally, had already staged separate protests on May 29 and 30. In West Bengal, bandh supporters blocked some roads in some areas and squatted on railway tracks. There were reports of some vehicles being damaged.
Bandh supporters blocked the Howrah Bridge, which connects the metropolis to the Howrah district. Trains were stopped at several stations in the Sealdah and Howrah divisions of Eastern and South Eastern Railway, However, buses, cars, taxis, trams were running in the metropolis though in less number.
Around 700 bandh supporters, including BJP state president Rahul Sinha were arrested from different places of the state, police said.
In Bihar, NDA Convener and JD-U national president Sharad Yadav and BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain were among 800 activists taken into custody while enforcing the bandh.
Hussain, the BJP National Spokesman, and others were detained in Bhagalpur town while trying to enforce the bandh.
Normal life was affected in Punjab due to the strike. Commercial establishments in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Batala, Kapurthala, Pathankot and Amritsar remained closed, though factories and other industrial units were operational. Train services in Chanidgarh were briefly disrupted.
The impact of bandh was also visible on the transport network with buses including private ones remaining off the road, causing inconvenience to people, as per reports coming from various districts including Patiala, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Kapurthala.
However, in Chandigarh, shops and commercial establishments remained open and buses were plying as usual.
In Congress-ruled Haryana, the bandh call did not evoke much response with shops and commercial establishments remaining open at most of the places in the state. Markets were closed in major cities of Rajasthan and private buses remained off the road.
The bandh in Andhra Pradesh was marked by road blockades and dharnas and incidents of tyres of state-owned RTC buses being deflated while it evoked a mixed response in Gujarat.
The bandh called in Uttar Pradesh by ruling Samajwadi party, an outside supporter of UPA, was by and large peaceful. There were reports of protesters squatting on trains.
