Nationwide strike hits banking ops, public transport services
New Delhi: Public dealings at some bank branches were hit and public transport services were thrown out of gear in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as thousands of workers on Monday began a two-day nationwide strike to protest against policies of the Union government.
However, essential services like healthcare, electricity and fuel supplies remained unaffected.
Public offices as well as educational institutions were not impacted by the strike called by nearly a dozen trade unions.
Some bank branches, particularly in cities with a strong trade union movement, did very limited over-the-counter public dealings such as cash deposits and withdrawals.
The joint forum of central trade unions, which has called for the two-day strike that started on Monday, said that bandh-like situation prevailed in at least eight states due to the nationwide strike against various policies of the government.
"There is a bandh-like situation in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Assam, Haryana and Jharkhand," the forum said in a statement.
According to the forum, agitations were held in many industrial areas across states like Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
In Maharashtra, volume data from clearing houses and cash replenishment at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) was not immediately available, though the striking employees claimed that they had a deep impact.
Workers staged protests at several places and unions claimed the agitation has had an impact in coal mining belts in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
The joint forum of central trade unions is protesting against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.
Their demands include the scrapping of the labour codes, no privatisation in any form, scrapping of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), increased allocation of wages under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and regularisation of contract workers.
In West Bengal, normal life was hit with protesters blocking roads and stopping movement of trains at some stations.
State road transport buses as well as auto-rickshaws and private buses were off the road in Kerala but essential services, including supply of milk, hospital and ambulance services were not affected.
Public transport services were hit in Haryana as employees of state roadways joined the strike.
Thousands of workers of state-owned SAIL, RINL and NMDC also joined the strike, affecting production at steel plants and mines.
Banking services were partially impacted on Monday as a section of bank employees did not report for duty.
However, there was hardly any impact on the functioning of new generation private sector banks. There might have been a delay in cheque clearances and government treasury operation might have also be affected by the strike.
