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.
