NEW DELHI: Day to day life in several states across the country was disrupted due to closure of public offices as well as blockage of roads and railways during the nationwide general strike — Bharat bandh — called by ten trade unions spearheaded by the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).The bandh was observed in Puducherry, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur. A partial strike was observed in Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Industrial and sector-specific strikes were organised Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. General Secretary of AITUC, Amarjeet Kaur, told TNIE, “We expected participation from roughly 25 crore workers. The response has been overwhelming with a much higher number taking part both from the formal and informal sectors.”She added, “People are upset due to multiple issues including high price rise and loss of jobs and empathised with us completely. This has made us determined to go ahead with our next course of action which will be much bigger and in association with farmer organisations.”Workers and the police clashed in a few places in Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu, with some protestors taken into preventive custody for a few hours and released.”The rank and file of Samyukt Kisan Morcha and joint front of Agricultural Labour Unions played significant role in the mobilisation in rural India,” said a joint statement released by the participating Unions (list of unions at the end). Worker unions in Coal, NMDC, iron-ore, Copper, Bauxite and Aluminium, Steel and Gold mines also took part. Employees in Banks, LIC, GIC, Petroleum, Electricity, Post offices, Grameen Dak Sevaks, Telecom, Atomic Energy, Cement, Port & Dock Tea plantations and Jute Mills protested.
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