Suburban train services, autorickshaws and BEST buses were operating in the city as usual.
Even though Mumbai remained unaffected by the bandh called by the central trade unions its impact was felt across the country. Normal life was thrown out of the gear in states like West Bengal, Tripura, Kerala and Karnataka due to the bandh. The unions were protesting against the proposed amendments in labour laws and privatisation of PSUs. On the other hand, suburban train services, autorickshaws and BEST buses were operating in Mumbai as usual.
Trade union leaders claimed that around 15 crore formal sector workers are on strike in support of their 12-point charter of demands. BJP-backed BMS and NFITU however stayed away from the strike. The unions decided to go ahead with strike as their talks with a ministerial panel headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley last month did not make any headway on their 12-point charter of demands.
Commuters had a harrowing time in Delhi as a large number of autos and taxis remained off the roads as part of the one-day strike.
People were seen waiting for hours for auto rickshaws in several parts of the city, even as public services like metro and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses witnessed surge in number of passengers. Office-goers and students were especially hit hard by the strike during morning hours.
Hansraj Bhat a reader from Borivali said, “The strike by lakhs of the bank and insurance companies’ employees on September 2, seems to be well engineered by the domestic, ‘Indian Hand’ to washout Narendra Modi’s good image all across the globe and to discourage all future foreign investments.”
“Though lakhs of employees might have joined this unwanted strike, it was totally against the common man’s interest, which has resulted into the loss worth crores of rupees just in a day. Thus, it is also the anti-economy strike. And in future it may cost our nation gigantic losses of foreign investments and also loss of job opportunities to crores of the Indian youth. The selfish people incited by the political parties with vested interests can never have foresight” he added.
Anandambal Subbu, a reader said, “One-day strike called by 10 central unions should be seen as the last gasp of an irrelevant left-wing ideology. The unions backing the strike are clearly driven by political considerations rather than workers’ interests. Despite reduction in diesel and petrol prices there is having no cascading effect in price hikes of essential commodities such as vegetables and fruits. So the salaried class people and lower income group suffer the most. It is time for the Government to do a turn around and go through the problem faced by the people.”
C.K Ramanathan, another reader said, “Even though the bandh evoked less response it is time for PM to look into people’s problem on priority basis. The problem with unionism in India is that it has not kept up with the changes in the economy. The old world of the shop floor is shrinking, as most economies depend on knowledge and skills to derive competitive advantage. Growth is driven by services, not agriculture and manufacturing. Today, not only companies, but countries also compete.”
Sarvesh Deshmukh a Mira Road resident said, “I and my family members wanted to hire a taxi to travel to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. But taxi drivers informed us that they are going on strike to support trade unions. Therefore, we had to hire private taxis for reaching our destination and had to shell out Rs 1000 for reaching the destination.”
Vivek Bhalerao, a Kandivali resident said, “I had to drop my daughter to school as school bus driver and attendant went on strike. Therefore, I reached my office late. Why don’t these people think about the national interests?”
CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress workers clashed during the general strike called by trade unions. Nearly 200 persons were arrested from different parts of the state.
Police sources said CPI(M) and TMC workers clashed at Baharampore and a few other places in Murshidabad district although details were yet to be received.
Six CPI(M) workers were detained in this connection, police said.
Public transport was partially affected in Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh as workers’ union joined the one-day nationwide strike.
Bank customers faced inconvenience as employees of public sector banks excluding SBI were also on strike. Public transport at several places in Haryana was affected as employees of Haryana Roadways also went on strike.
In Kerala, public and private bus services, taxis and autorickshaws were off the roads. Only a few private cars and two wheelers were seen on the roads. Shops, hotels and even small tea stalls were closed in the state.
Industry body Assocham estimated $3.7 billion in economic losses from the strike, singling out the country’s ports where exports were stranded on the docks.
