Bandhs in Bengal

CPM toughs bring south Kolkata to its knees
TNN, 14 January 2010, 07:10am IST

KOLKATA: North on Tuesday, South on Wednesday. Trinamool Congress one day, CPM the next. Kolkatas fate doesnt change. On Wednesday morning, CPM cadres replaced the unruly autorickshaw drivers and Trinamool supporters to hold the city to ransom.

A 12-hour bandh, called in South 24-Parganas to protest the murder of CPM supporters in Canning , hit urban pockets in the citys southern fringes. Lathi-wielding CPM toughs called the shots in Garia, Patuli, Baishnabghata, Jadavpur, Santoshpur, parts of Kasba and large stretches of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.

Like Tuesday, the bandh brigade wheeled police barricades into play. Traffic police platforms were toppled to serve as makeshift barriers. CPM cadres placed charpoys at key crossings and stretched their limbs over cups of tea as patients , workers, schoolkids and pilgrims suffered all day. Bandh enforcers stormed into Vidyasagar Hospital and stopped officials from opening the administration office.

The South 24-Parganas district police proved inept in dealing with the situation. Superintendent of police L N Meena, currently at Gangasagar Mela, said he had no information about police barricades being used. I will look into the matter, Meena said.

Gangasagar-bound pilgrims were halted at Sealdah station and midway on the road as trains on the south section came to a halt. From the humble rickshaw to speeding SUVs, every moving thing had to bow before the cadres. Schools along EM Bypass were shut.

Till late Tuesday night, newspaper offices got frantic calls from residents of these parts inquiring about the bandh. Dawn proved their worst fears true. CPM cadres were up early in the morning. The Red flag fluttered over metal barricades bearing the initials WBP (West Bengal Police).

As for policemen, most were indoors as vehicle after vehicle was stopped on EM Bypass. At crossings like Patuli-Baishnabghata , Mukundapur, Ajaynagar and the all-important Ruby Hospital-Rashbehari Avenue Bypass connector, muscle-flexing CPM cadres waved lathis to stop vehicles. Even mediapersons were stopped.

TOI cars were stopped at Patuli and Ruby crossing. Edike bandh aachhe, jaoa jabe na. Odike gari rekhe daran (There is a bandh, you cant go that side. Park and wait here), said a CPM supporter near Ruby hospital, banging on the bonnet. His comrades were busy flagging down other vehicles heading towards Garia. Even doctors cars, bound for the hospitals along EM Bypass, were stopped.

There was a human chain when I reached the crossing. They wouldnt let me proceed. Our ambulances , which went to bring hospital staff, were stopped at several places. They had to take a detour to reach the hospital. What is this nonsense asked Brigadier (retired) S B Purakayastha, CEO of Ruby General Hospital.

A woman and her child, going towards a housing complex near Santoshpur, were stopped by the hooligans, who blocked their car and then deflated the tyres. The complex was barely 200 yards away. On EM Bypass, rickshaw pullers were beaten and the passengers shooed off.

Double whammy brings city to its knees
TNN, 13 January 2010, 03:52am IST

KOLKATA: Back-to-back traffic stoppers brought the city to a grinding halt on Tuesday. While autorickshaw drivers blocked roads at seven intersections in north and east Kolkata between 10.30 am and 1 pm, Trinamool Congress workers blocked 31 intersections across the city between 1.45 pm and 3 pm.

Patients writhed about in ambulances that did not move, and those bound for the stations and airport had their hearts in their mouth.

Shefali and his mother Ranjabati were among those caught in the auto drivers wildcat blockade. “My daughter had had a class test today but couldn’t make it. How can people suddenly stop traffic during rush hour?” asked Ranjabati. Bur autorickshaw unions — from both Left and Right — leaders couldn’t care less.

Gautam, a Rashbehari resident, was on his way to a physician’s chamber in Behala but could not make it on time. “I have been suffering from acute gastric pain. I got stuck for over 90 minutes at Rashbehari crossing as a handful Trinamool Congress workers blocked the intersection,” he rued.

Dhaka University professor Mohammad Safi and wife Anwara Begum were on their way to the airport when they got stuck at the Ultadanga gridlock before police could send out an alert. “The taxi driver had no clue about the blockade. He would have otherwise taken an alternative route to the airport. Now, I am running helter skelter to get seats on another flight,” he said.

Reacting to the crisis, airlines kept the check-in counters open till just 10 minutes before takeoff instead of 30 minutes. Taxis that left the airport with passengers in the morning could return only in the evening. Those who landed in the city in the afternoon were stranded at the airport as there were no cabs.

School students returning home were among the worst hit by the Trinamool agitation. Schoolbuses were caught in traffic snarls all over the city. Many reached home only late in the evening, having spent close to three hours on the road.

Transport minister Ranjit Kundu, while acknowledging that the autorickshaws had a genuine problem, said strikes and blockades would not solve the problem. “Inconveniencing others is not a solution,” he said. Home secretary Ardhendu Sen was more firm. “Sure, the auto drivers have a problem but we will not tolerate road blockades,” he said.

However, no one, other than fire services minister Pratim Chatterjee, had anything to say on the Trinamool stir. Perhaps because CPM has called a bandh in South 24-Parganas on Wednesday.

I have said it earlier, I repeat.
With both the party in power as well as the opposition competing with each other in trying to bring it to a halt I have no hopes for Bengal unless we have a ten year spell of president's rule.
A person like Dharma Vir or T N Seshan should be made governor.
I am afraid Bengal is going to go from bad to worse with Mamta Banerjee eyeing the Chief Minister's chair.