The Hindu Business Line : IT sector exempted from Trinamool’s bandh in Bengal

Desolated: The area near the bustling Sealdah Station in central Kolkata wearing a deserted look as West Bengal observed a second consecutive bandh on Friday. The 12-hour bandh was called by the Trinamool Congress and the SUCI to protest the UPA Government’s decision to hike the prices of fuel and petroleum products, in Kolkata.

Our Bureau

Kolkata, June 6 With Ms Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress exempting the IT sector from the 12-hour “Bangla bandh” on Friday, operations were more or less normal at Sector V of Salt Lake, the hub of IT and ITES activity in West Bengal.

By afternoon, the 12-hour bandh was cut short by one-and-a-half hours and was called off at 4.30 p.m.

This apart, life in West Bengal was disrupted for the second consecutive day with the Trinamool Congress — and the BJP — calling a 12-hour “bandh” to protest against the Centre’s decision to hike the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG. Commercial establishments and offices of most private companies were shut and very few State-owned or private buses were seen on the roads.

On Thursday, too, normal life was disrupted in the state with the Left Front calling a 12-hour “general strike” over the same issue.

On Friday, several long-distance trains to and from Kolkata were cancelled or short-terminated before their final destinations. Airlines, however, reported normal operations “as per schedule”. An Air India official confirmed that all flights in the morning and evening took off as scheduled. Jet Airways’ flights, too, departed on schedule.

The Principal Secretary in West Bengal’s Department of Information Technology, Mr Siddharth, told Business Line that the attendance at Sector V on Friday was “much better than yesterday”.

He said that while the availability of transport was an issue, several IT/ITES companies had arranged for transport to carry people from home to office and back. One of the bigger ITES companies at Salt Lake’s Sector V said that it had done precisely that to ensure 100 per cent attendance. Some other IT companies claimed to have clocked 75-85 per cent attendance on Friday.

According to the State unit of CITU, a few jute mills were operational even as the bandh call had limited impact in tea estates in North Bengal.

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