From retail shops and malls to banks and industrial units, Gujarat witnessed successful beginning to NDA-sponsored Bharat Bandh on early Thursday morning. The nationwide strike was called by lead opposition parties to protest against the recent fuel price hike, cap on subsidised LPG and FDI in retail.
Even transport also came to almost standstill with services of Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS), Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services (AMTS) and other local transport being stalled in major cities like Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat. Commercial business districts (CBDs) like CG Road and Prahladnagar in Ahmedabad saw an usual deserted look with shops, offices and malls remaining closed. While some of the essential shops like dairy parlours and vegetable kiosks were open, citizens were hit by the lack of public transport.
"While retailers and industrialists supported the bandh, we ensured that services like BRTS and other public transport also ceased to function. Our party workers working towards ensuring that," said Jagdish Bhavsar, media convenor and party spokesperson at Gujarat BJP.
Members of local and national industry associations like Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI), ASSOCHAM and FICCI also joined in the bandh across Gujarat. "We have asked our 2,700-odd members to support the bandh at their discretion and the response is positive. The central government's move not only affects the common man but also other sections of the society," said Prakash Bhagwati, president GCCI, adding that the association will only be able to ascertain the day's loss by the end of the bandh on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in Surat, the synthetic textile industry as well as the diamond industry also remained closed leading to a single day loss running in hundreds of crores. "Both the textile and diamond industry are totally shut today in support of the bandh. The textile industry alone will be facing a loss of over Rs 250 crore today," said Devkishan Manghani, general secretary of Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA).