Kolkata: Bengal govt is pulling out all the stops to foil the general strike called by 10 central trade unions and their affiliates on July 9 against Centre's "anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-national pro-corporate policies".
In a notification issued by transport secretary Saumitra Mohan, the state govt has urged all public and private transport operators, including state transport undertakings (STUs), to operate normal services on that day. Railway authorities — including Eastern, Southeastern, North Frontier and Metro — have been requested to run all train services without disruption for the convenience of commuters.
The state transport department will deploy additional buses and ferries and control rooms are being set up. All leaves of drivers, conductors and other staff have been cancelled.
Meanwhile, private transport bodies announced on Monday that a sufficient number of private buses, taxis and autos will operate. Control rooms will be operational from 6am on Wednesday. The helpline numbers are: 033-2236-1916/0462/0463 and 8697733391.
The state govt also announced that in each shift, 500 CSTC, 200 CTC and 70 WBSTC buses will be on the roads. Most buses will operate in two or three shifts. Additionally, 25 ferries and two trams will be in service.
Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant has held meetings with DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior officials and DMs so that normalcy is not affected in any way and roads are not blocked.
Bengal govt also made it clear that it will be mandatory for all state govt offices to remain open on Wednesday. All employees are expected to report for duty on July 9, and no leave — casual, half-day or full-day — will be granted unless covered under specific exceptions. The notification made it clear that any absence on July 9 will be treated as ‘dies-non' (unauthorised absence with no salary), unless for personal or medical emergency.
AIBEA, AIBOA and BEFI decided to join the all-India general strike on July 9, keeping banks shut. Other constituents of UFBU in the banking industry have also extended their moral support to this strike, AIBEA president Rajen Nagar said.
Former SUCI MLA Tarun Naskar and general secretary of All India Save Education Committee said one of their issues was to scrap the National Education Policy, so they extended their support to the strike. Chandidas Bhattacharya, state secretary of SUCI, said its trade union AIUTUC would be actively involved in the strike.