India : General strike total in Wayanad
An all-India strike called by major trade unions across the country on Friday against the ‘anti-labour policies’ of the government was total and peaceful in the district.
Shops, business establishments
and educational institutions remained closed. Attendance was low in government offices. Only three out of the 170 employees turned up for duty at the Collectorate here, Wayanad District Collector B.S. Thirumeni toldThe Hindu.
Private buses and heavy vehicles stayed off the road. Two-wheelers and some private cars plied.
All services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), including inter-State ones, from the Sulthan Bathery depot were cancelled, KSRTC sources said.
No strike-related untoward incidents were reported, Police Department sources said.
Trade union activists took out protest marches in the evening.
Peaceful in Kasaragod
Our Staff Reporter writes from Kasaragod: The nationwide general strike was peaceful in the district.
All modes of public transport, including the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses and buses from Karnataka, kept off the roads. A few two-wheelers and private cars were seen on the roads.
The police kept strict vigil in politically sensitive localities. Three additional platoons of armed police were deployed in the district, Superintendent of Police Thomson Jose said.
Shops and business houses, including banks, remained shut. However, traders in BJP-dominated localities in parts of the district kept their shops open. The pro-BJP Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) workers did not participate in the strike.
Marches taken out
At the Collectorate, of the 158 employees, only 17 reported for work while 34 took leave on the day, a senior Collectorate official said.
Representatives of various trade unions took out protest marches here, Kanhangad and other important towns in the district.