Govt will take steps to ensure normal life: Mamata

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday directed its employees to report to duty on Thursday, the day Left parties and BJP have called a statewide bandh in protest against terror and violence in the just-concluded civic elections.

She said the state government would take all steps to ensure normal life and urged people not to support the bandh called by Left parties and BJP to protest against alleged malpractices and violence in the civic poll.

“I am saying with folded hands please do not support the bandh. There will be no bandh in Kolkata or in the districts,” she said.

“If there is any loss of property owing to the bandh tomorrow, the state government will give compensation,” Banerjee said, while asserting that the administration would ensure normal life in the state.

“A bandh will only mean loss of man days and revenue for the cash-strapped state, which has been left with a huge debt by the previous Left Front government,” Banerjee said, alleging that the BJP was indulging in political opportunism by calling a bandh.

“Those who have nothing to do are sitting in air- conditioned rooms and giving bandh calls, while the poor people suffer,” she said about the Left Front’s 12-hour state- wide bandh call along with the Left trade union bodies’ nationwide transport strike call.

The BJP has also called a Bengal bandh on Thursday. While it had earlier announced a 12-hour bandh, the saffron party later reduced it to 10 hours, citing problems for spectators for tomorrow’s IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. She claimed that “while daily wage-earners have to go without food for loss of work, the leaders who call the bandhs have their meals in their cosy chambers.”