Click to play videoKolkata: Day one of the Trinamool Congress-sponsored indefinite strike saw West Bengal barely functioning.
Schools and colleges were closed and private vehicles remained off the roads.
Some government-run buses which did venture were attacked in central Kolkata and Durgapur.
Tension reigned in Kidderpore as rallies taken out by the Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M) came face to face. 33 people were arrested in the wake of the face-off.
Scores of people were – commuters and passengers – were left in the lurch as the state was virtually paralysed.
Though most of Kolkata’s populace chose to stay at home, there were isolated cases like Bankim Dhar, who arrived on Monday morning from Jodhpur.
“We are here since yesterday, there are no means to commute," he said angrily. "This is not done! We don’t have anything to eat or drink! We can’t go home. I am just stranded with my family and kids,” he exclaimed.
No public transport was available to most people.
The Kolkata airport saw a relatively calm scenario, although several passengers had to wait for hours because of the passenger congestion.
“I have an urgent appointment tomorrow morning and I have to go at any cost,” said a passenger, D Debroy.
“Main problem I am facing that they are not allowing (me) to go inside the airport,” said another passenger A Chakrabarti, who complained that one could not even use the facilities in the airport.
Kolkata’s IT hub also bore a deserted look.
Bengal Chamber of Commerce President, S Radhakrisnan said, “I should say that all the industries are affected by this bandh. The 24 into 7 industry and the services industry is most affected, because the foreign clients are not going to accept such a situation and are not going to wait for our delays,” he said.
Though the bandh was – in all senses – extremely successful, the public continued to suffer, as per the usual.
With inputs from Gokul Nanda
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