Siliguri, Feb 20:
The first day of the two-day-long nation-wide strike called
by various trade unions against the centre’s economic policy paralyzed six
districts of North Bengal even as life remained
normal in three hill sub divisions.
However owning to differences among trade unions, the bandh
did not have its desired effect in tea gardens in Terai and Dooars.
The National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) affiliated
with INTUC, which is one of the main trade unions calling the bandh was
vertically divided over the issue of the bandh. As a result, the NUPW did not
join the bandh in the tea gardens of Dooars while it backed the bandh in Terai.
Pradip Bhattacharya the Congress West Bengal state committee
president who is also the president of INTUC state unit according to sources
was against the bandh even as the INTUC was imposing the bandh nation wide.
Hence in the lack of clear-cut instruction from
Bhattacharya, even NUPU leaders supporting the bandh preferred not to join
other trade unions to impose the bandh in the Dooars. The bandh is also opposed
by the GJM’s Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union and a section of
Progressive Tea Workers Union.
Hence normal works were carried out in more than 60 percent
of tea gardens of the Dooars even as workers’ attendance was thin.
But in Terai the bandh was almost total in tea gardens.
On Wednesday, Bandh supporters hit the roads from early
morning throughout the six districts of North Bengal
even as TMC’s supporters actively opposed it at some points. Five bandh
supporters including Radha Chettri a senior CPM leader were arrested from
Siliguri.
Barring tea gardens the bandh was almost total as vehicles
remained off the roads, educational institutions, market establishments and
banks remained closed. Though most of the state government offices remained
open, the attendance was thin. Those
state government employees who attended their offices did so out of fear of
stern government action and deduction of their wages.
Post a Comment