Click to play videoNew Delhi: For the first time in the history of trade union strikes, West Bengal's IT sector was largely spared from the general strike sponsored by Left-leaning trade unions even as normal life was brought to a grinding halt across the Left-ruled states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura and some other parts of the country.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had promised normalcy at the state's IT hub in Salt Lake 'at any cost'.
Most companies in the state's nascent IT industry functioned "almost normally" although attendance was low in some of them due to transportation problems.
The IT industry used their own transport to ferry staff to work place.
Yet, several IT firms in Salt Lake reported low turnout. Attendance was down to as low as 60 per cent in some companies, where normal work flow was affected to some extent.
Sensing trouble, some top companies like IBM and Tata Consultancy Services had declared holidays in their offices.
"Past experiences are bad, obviously yes. But another thing is, some of the major companies have also declared holidays because they don't take the risk for the employees," IT professional Rajorshi Bhattacharjee told CNN-IBN.
"The roads are empty. We came to office in our office cars. Attendance in our office is about 60 per cent, but hardly any other offices are open," a staff with an IT company in Salt Lake told CNN-IBN.
However, the 24X7 IT-enabled services were largely unaffected by strike. News agencies reported "business as usual" in the BPO sector.
The IT Services Association, a union floated for IT and ITeS sector workers last month, had decided not to force the employees to join the stir though CPI-M-affiliated CITU had wanted them to be part of the shutdown.
"We are not for forcing anybody to participate in the strike. Yet, there has been 'good response' from our members to the strike. Those who wanted to go to work were allowed to do so," Somnath Bhattacharya, secretary of the IT Services Association, said. The CITU, too, had said that the IT sector would not be exempted from the shutdown.
However, the trade union body still made an unusual departure by allowing the IT industry to work on a day when life across West Bengal can to a grinding halt. CITU had pledged that there will be no picketing at the IT hub of Salt Lake.
West Bengal's IT sector, which is still in a nascent stage, has been given the status of a public utility in the state.
Member of Salt Lake-Rajarhat IT committee of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry S Radhakrishnan told PTI that the percentage of attendance in the IT and ITeS sector was around 80 per cent. "Employees were still coming," he said. Radhakrishnan said that 24X7 operations in all the IT and ITeS companies, including IBM, were on as employees were brought in before 6 am.
There was strong police deployment in the Salt Lake satellite township, the hub of the IT sector, and the state authorities took enough care to ensure that employees were not prevented from reporting for work.
Meanwhile, life came to a grinding halt across the Left-ruled states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura and some other parts of the country. In Kolkata, roads were deserted throughout the day with no public transport while shops and establishments were closed. Even airlines operations were suspended to and from Kolkata. Indian and Jet Airways, among others, too cancelled their operations from the metropolis.
Most people in Kolkata's IT hub knew little or nothing about CITU's demands from the UPA Government.
For them, it was another bandh, and because it is sponsored by Left trade unions, Kolkata witnessed a complete shutdown.
Hence comes the obvious question: isn't the CITU as much a threat to industrial establishments in Bengal as those Opposition parties seemingly resisting investments in the state?
(With inputs from Sougata Mukhopadhyay)
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