Half-day bandh costs state Rs 804 cr

West Bengal which experiences maximum number of bandhs among all the states in India, loses approximately Rs 804.55 crore in Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) due to a bandh of 12 hours, a report says.

“The total loss due to a 12 hour bandh in West bengal is approximately Rs 804.55 crore in NSDP. It is calculated that around 74.97 per cent of daily production is lost to a 12 hour bandh in West Bengal,” a report titled “Impact of Bandh in West Bengal and Possitive Alternatives” by Indian Chamber of Commerce says.

And if the profit is taken into account, the the state then per day loss to profit due to a bandh of 12 hours is approximately Rs 25 crore.

 

The report also points out that in the year 2009, the total number of strikes and lockouts in the state was 267 which is as high as around 76 per cent of the India total as the country experienced 351 strikes and lockouts in the same year.“Apart from this huge economic losses, bandh leads to other non-economic losses like loss of investor's interest. This has made a negative perceptions about work culture here,” Jayanta Roy, President of Indian Chamber of Commerce said after releasing the report,

The report also suggests various possible alternatives to bandh like calling bandhs on Sundays or holidays, or in the afternoon for two hours if it is a working day.

It even says of political or trade union consensus on opening offices Sundays or holidays in lieu of the bandh day.

However, eminent scientist Bikash Sinha who was also present at the official release of the report said, “We need to go into the deep into psychology of people here to root out the problem. Most of the bandhs are called on Fridays or on Mondays as if it's a planned holiday. We are really addicted to this. People don't seem to bothered about the loss.”

Economist and professor of Indian Statiscal Institute, Abhirup Sarkar said that dependence of people on political parties need to be reduced to sort out the problem.

“Many people like the non-licensed workers depend on support of political parties to run their business. And bandh is a way for political parties of signalling strength to these people. If we don't depend on political parties for survival, then this can be resolved as even political parties will not do something people are opposed to,” Sarkar said.