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Strike hits loss of Rs 25,000 cr: ASSOCHAM
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SME Times News Bureau | 03 Sep, 2015
A nationwide strike called by trade unions hit nation hard as millions of
industrial and blue collar workers struck work, affecting all vital
sectors of the economy in varying degrees.
A business body
estimated the day's loss at Rs.25,000 crore as the strike crippled
defence production, banks, insurance companies and the postal department
besides strongly affecting almost all mines, steel industry and the
power sector.
Public transport was crippled or badly affected in
different states, inconveniencing hundreds of thousands who were
stranded at bus and railway stations in the absence of taxis and
auto-rickshaws.
While the government made light of the strike
called by all 10 central trade unions barring the pro-BJP Bharatiya
Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the strikers called the protest an unprecedented
success.
"The response has been unprecedented," veteran Communist
leader Gurudas Dasgupta told IANS. "In Delhi, we are seeing such an
impact for the first time."
Earlier in the day, the government
tried to downplay the impact of the strike with the Petroleum Minister
Dharmendra Pradhan saying the strike by central trade unions did not
have much impact.
"There is no impact on normal life," Pradhan
told media persons after a meeting of the union cabinet here. He said
the government has arrived at a formula on hiking minimum wages and
would place it before all trade unions across the country soon.
In
the evening, the 10 unions said in a joint statement: "It has been an
unprecedented strike (by) millions of workers. All sectors of the
economy (were) affected."
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and
Industry of India pegged the loss to the economy at Rs.25,000 crore,
taking into account the numerous direct and indirect losses.
Production in state-run Coal India was severely hit. "Overall, the strike is 80 percent successful," a company official said.
The
strike was almost wholly peaceful barring in West Bengal where Left
activists enforcing the shutdown clashed with police and supporters of
the ruling Trinamool Congress, leaving several people injured.
The
strike was in support of 12 demands, including axing of labour law
amendments, a minimum wage of Rs.15,000 a month, and against
privatisation of public sector units.
Union leaders said about 300 million workers were involved in the protest.
While the shutdown crippled Kerala and Tripura, both Left bastions, it was felt in varying degrees in many other states.
The unions said they expected the government to understand the grievances of the workers.
"It
must restart discussions with the central trade unions for concrete
solutions to the demands, failing which the struggle will be
intensified," they warned.
According to the unions, the defence
production came to a halt. The strike was said to be "100 percent" in
the financial sector including banks and insurance companies as well as
the postal department.
It also hit hard coal, iron ore, bauxite,
copper and aluminium mines, was "almost complete" in electricity and
power sector and telecommunication, and "total" in tea gardens.
It was the first such nationwide strike by trade unions since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power in May 2014.
In
the financial sector, lakhs of bank and insurance employees - including
those from cooperative banks and regional rural banks - stayed away
from work, union leader C.H. Venkatachalam told IANS in Chennai. He said the strike was a success in cities like Mumbai, India's financial capital, and in New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. But unions in the State Bank of India, the country's largest bank, and Indian Overseas Bank did not take part.
Trade
union leader V. Utagi said operations were hit in Mumbai Port Trust.
"And Maharashtra's 1.50 million government employees joined us."
But public buses and Mumbai's suburban trains plied though their unions lent "moral support" to the strike.
In
Delhi, banks, insurance companies and industrial areas observed a
shutdown. Most auto-rickshaws, the poor man's taxi, went off the roads.
Delhi Metro reported normal operations.
In Kerala, most IT firms in Technopark and Infopark reported thin attendance.
The shutdown evoked mixed response in Karnataka. Buses and autos didn't ply while factories, banks and shops were closed.
The strike hit transport and banking services in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Normal life was hit in Bihar, where strikers blocked roads and halted trains in some places.
In
West Bengal, while the Left Front called the strike a success, Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee dubbed it a failure. Nearly 1,000 people were
arrested for violence, she said.
Clashes were reported from
various districts including Murshidabad, Birbhum, North 24 Parganas and
Hooghly in which a former CPI-M MP and two legislators were injured.
Many political party offices were vandalis
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