SEPTEMBER 29 COUNTRYWIDE GENERAL STRIKE

Reports From Various States

Rail roko in progress in Chennai Perambur railway station led by 

S K Mahendran MLA and Tamilnadu state president of DYFI

THE general strike of September 29 got converted into a complete bandh in  West Bengal, Kerala And Tripura and a bandh like situation has emerged in Assam, Haryana, Orissa and Jharkhand owing to massive en masse-participation by workers across the affiliations and massive support from people from other walks of life. In Punjab and Haryana, roadways workers’ total strike has paralysed the normal traffic in both the states.  In Karnataka, more than 50 per cent public transports are off the road due to strike.

Reports from various states as received at the time of going to press are given below:

HARYANA: Owing to complete strike by the employees of Roadways Corporation and also by a major section of private bus workers, a bandh like situation has emerged. Government employees, including electricity, PWD, municipal workers and Anganwadi workers were on complete strike.  In Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar, hundreds of workers were arrested while they were demonstrating on the main roads. The workers of industrial area of Gurgaon and Dharuhera, including the Honda factory were on total strike and Gurgaon witnessed massive demonstration by more than 10,000 striking workers. The industrial centres of Panipat, Sonepat, Karnal, Rohtak remained virtually closed due to strike.

PUNJAB: The industrial centers of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mandigobindgarh, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar etc reported massive response to strike action by the industrial workers and the textile workers in particular. Almost all the industrial centres including Chandigarh witnessed massive demonstration by tens of thousands of striking workers. Amritsar witnessed virtual bandh. FCI palledars were on total strike. Punjab Roadways was on near-total strike paralysing the normal traffic throughout the state. Workers of the unorganised sector, particularly from brick-kiln responded to the strike call in a big way. The state government employees, UT employees and the municipal workers were on complete strike.

JAMMU & KASHMIR: The hydel project workers in Baghlihar, Sewa project and NHPC joined the strike en masse. Workers of HMT, Centaur Hotel, ITI and Project Construction held massive demonstration at Lalchowk at Srinagar. CPI(M) state secretary and MLA Mohd Yusuf Tarigami raised the issue of strike on the floor of the state assembly.

CITU activists participating in the strike in Shimla

HIMACHAL PRADESH: All the hydel project workers were on complete strike. The road transport workers joined the strike in a big way. The industrial areas of Solan, Parawanoo, Baddi Berotiwala, Sirmour, Hamirpur reported massive response to strike call. The hotel workers at Shimla were in total strike. The central government offices, banks, insurance, telecom offices also reported total strike.

KARNATAKA: All the public sector units viz., BHEL, BEL, BEML, ITI etc reported complete strike. All the coastal districts viz., South Kanara, Udipi and Uttarkanara and also Gulbarga and Kolar witnessed virtual bandh. The industrial units at Raichur, Tumkur, Belgaum and also the large industrial companies like MICO, ITC, Toyota, Kirloskar reported complete strike. In the industrial areas of Yashwantpur, K R Pura, Hosur Road, Kumblagod, Rajajinagar Kamakshipalay etc, the strike was total. The auto rickshaws throughout the state were off the road. In road transport sector, strike was substantial affecting the traffic movement.

TAMILNADU: Industrial workers, central government employees, financial sector employees and unorganised sector workers in the state of Tamilnadu responded magnificently to the all India general strike call. The strike was complete in major industrial establishments in and around Chennai, including Ashok Leyland, Ennore Foundries, WIMCO, MRF, Enfield India, Eveready Industries, EID Parry, Tube Products of India, Sinhua chemicals, Audco India, ALLSTOM, Hindustan Motors car plant, Engine valves and Balmer Lawrie. Workers from Madras Export Promotion Zone (MEPZ) and in the Electronic Industrial Estate in Tiruvanmiyur and Industrial estate in Ambathur participated in the strike. Industrial workers from textile, engineering and other sectors from different parts of the state participated in the strike. Strike in Public sector units like BHEL, Neyveli Lignite, Salem Steel was partial. Unorganised sector workers from construction, auto rickshaw, beedi, handloom, cashew etc participated in the strike in large numbers. Striking workers took part in court-arrest demonstrations along with peasants, students, youth and women activists in around 300 centres in the state and around 25,000 thousand activists were arrested, including thousands of women activists.

PONDICHERRY: In Hindustan Lever, Indian Oil bottling plant and also in LPG delivery services, strike was total.

ASSAM: The state witnessed almost a bandh like situation. Even schools and colleges were closed.   Besides complete strike in banks, insurance, BSNL and other government offices, the refineries, paper mills, private motor transport and small scale industries reported total strike. The coal mines at Margarita and Bardoloi reported complete strike despite attacks by police and local gangsters.  Rail-roko and rasta roko were organised at several places. In tea plantations, the strike was around 60 per cent. In different parts of the state, police arrested around thousand workers and state level leaders  from the rallies organised jointly by AITUC, CITU, UTUC-LS and AICCTU. In Bongaigaon police lathicharged the workers who were taking out a rally and several workers, including women were injured.  

DELHI: The workers in the industrial areas of Okhla (I & II), Wazirpur, Mangolpuri, Jhilmil industrial estate, Mayapuri, Kirtinagar, Patparganj etc joined the strike action in a big way. At Jahangirpuri, Mongolpuri and Wazirpur fly-over, huge procession by the striking workers jammed the roads braving the police intervention. Delhi University teachers and employees were on complete strike.

MAHARASHTRA: The industrial centers of Navi-Mumbai/Thane, Nasik, Pune, Solapur, Ichhalkaranji, Nagpur, Aurangabad etc reported massive response to strike call both from organised and unorganised sector workers. Private transport, auto-rickshaws etc were off the road in most of the cities in the state. In Mumbai, besides the total strike by state government employees, municipal workers, bank and insurance employees, the response to strike by the central government employees and workers in other private sector industries was also quite good. In port and dock, it was partial. Reports of massive mobilisation by the striking workers and other mass organisations of kisan, students, youth and women to organise road-blockade at different parts of the state was reported.

CHHATTISGARH: The coal belt in the state reported above 75 per cent strike on the whole. The privatised Balco witnessed hundred per cent strike. In the iron ore mines at Dalli Rajhara, strike was to the tune of 90 per cent. The markets at Rajnandgaon and Dhamtari were closed owing to strike by all the workers.