India to witness day long shut down tomorrow

Protesting against several issues including the price rise of essential commodities and black marketing and agitating several policies of BJP led central government and of TMC led state government, Left employees and trade unions have called a day-long country wide general strike on Sep 2.

 

Declaring a day's pay cut, central and state governments published two different notices for their employees.

 

West Bengal government has also allowed its staff to stay in government offices at night, before the bandh.

 

Opposing the pay-cut notices, West Bengal CPI-M's state secretary Suryakanta Mishra said, "It is illegal, unconstitutional and fails to stand judicial scrutiny. Struggle, unite and make tomorrow's strike successful."

 

Assuring to provide security, the WB government has urged the people to join their works on the strike's day.

 

State's transport secretary Alapon Banerjee told IBNS, "Government undertaking buses will be run normally. We are requesting the private transporters to keep state's transportation normal. Government will ensure their security."

 

Meanwhile, the Bengal Taxi Association (BTA) has called a day-long taxi strike in Kolkata on Sep 2. The general secretary of BTA, Bimal Guha told IBNS: "We will not run our taxis on Sep 2."

 

However, private bus and minibus associations stated that they are ready to run their buses if they get the assurance of security from the government. Auto-rickshaw unions have also assured to keep their service normal.

 

General manager of luxury taxi service provider Uber-Kolkata, Ashwin Dias said through a press statement, "Uber is committed to ensure people in Kolkata have a safe, reliable and affordable transportation option at the push of a button, even during this strike. Our teams and thousands of partner drivers are working tirelessly to ensure that Ubers are available and no one is stranded." 

 

However, the Kolkata police will deploy extra forces on the strike day. 

 

Special Additional and Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Headquarters) Rajeeb Mishra told IBNS, "We will deploy as many as ten thousand extra policemen tomorrow to ensure city's security. All deputy commissioners (DC) will be on duty from 5:30 am tomorrow. Two additional DCs will be there at central and south divisions as those places are sensitive. We have arranged police picketing at several important points in Kolkata including bus and tram depots, rail and metro stations to avoid any untoward situation." 

 

Few helpline numbers will be opened from 6 am on Wednesday to provide help to the commuters if they faces any trouble during travel. Few of those are-

 

Police- 100

Ambulance service- 102

        

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)