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05/07/2010
Strike evokes near total response in Bihar
Patna, July 5 (IANS) Several trains were halted and road traffic hit in Bihar Monday as the nationwide strike called by Left parties and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to protest the fuel price hike evoked a near total response in the state.
More than 2,600 workers and leaders of Left parties and NDA courted arrest in Bihar during the dawn-to-dusk shutdown.
These included Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad, state party chief C.P. Thakur and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MPs Monazir Hasan and Shivanand Tiwari.
"The shutdown was a total success in Bihar," Thakur said. Bihar is ruled by a BJP-JD-U coalition, and the Left has a strong presence in over half a dozen districts.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded at different railway stations since early Monday as BJP, JD-U and Left activists stopped over a dozen long-route trains at the Patna, Hajipur, Gaya, Darbhanga, Jehanabad, Araria, Bhagalpur, Ara and Muzaffarpur railway stations.
"Several trains were halted to enforce the shutdown," a police officer told IANS.
Roads, particularly National Highways 31, 28 and 30, were blocked at various places. In Patna, busy roads like Ashok Rajpath, Bailey Road and Fraser Road were blocked by the shutdown supporters.
"Road services were also hit. No long route-buses plied. Highways are deserted," the police officer said.
Government and private schools and colleges were closed. Exams scheduled for the day in schools and colleges were cancelled.
Shops, markets and offices stayed shut.
In Patna, hundreds of women, including homemakers, from the Rashtriya Mahila Brigade took to streets to protest. They held placards, posters, banners and swords and shouted slogans.
They disrupted train services at the Rajendra Nagar terminal here for over three hours by squatting on railway tracks and blocked the Dak-Bungalow Square in Patna.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party did not join the shutdown and have instead called for a separate shutdown July 10.
The central government ended government curbs on petroleum pricing and hiked the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas. The price of diesel went up by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene by Rs.3 a litre, petrol by Rs.3.50 a litre, and cooking gas by Rs.35 a cylinder.
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