Citu calls transport strike today

The Centre for Indian Trade Unions (Citu), the trade union wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has called a 24-hour transport strike in West Bengal tomorrow to protest against the Centre’s decision to hike the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.

“All transport, including goods and passenger vehicles, will go on strike state-wide tomorrow in protest against the Centre’s decision to increase the prices of petroleum products,” CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty told reporters here.

He said that trains will run and essential services will be kept outside the purview of the strike.

Analysts feel that frequent calls for strike in West Bengal have caused irreparable loss to the state as an investment destination over the years. It will be mentioned that the state has had to grapple with no less than 33 Bangla bandhs in as many years. None of the political formations in the state come unscathed when it comes to causing disruptions to public life, which apparently serves nobody’s interests.

Chakraborty, a central committee member of the CPI(M), described Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s opposition to the price hike as a ‘political bluff’.

“To bluff the people in the state, she has not attended the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers, which took the decision. Whether she attended the meeting or not, she has an understanding with the government on the price hike,” he alleged.