Normal life may go for a toss tomorrow, especially in West Bengal and Kerala, following a nation-wide general strike called by Left-affiliated unions against the UPA government's policies, but newly unionised IT workers in Kolkata may stay away from the shutdown. |
Airline schedules, services in state-owned banking and insurance companies, ports and docks, textile industry and coal sector are expected to be affected by the strike, called to protest the rising prices and the generally "raw deal" to the common man under the UPA government. |
Airlines, including Indian and Jet, have cancelled their operations from Kolkata tomorrow, fearing a complete shutdown, while contingency plan has been put in place at Chennai airport to face any "undesirable" situation. |
Critical operations at the IT and ITES companies in Kolkata will not be disrupted tomorrow, when the city faces its third bandh in the last three weeks. |
After a half-and-hour meeting with state IT department officials and assurances from Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the companies were predominantly upbeat. |
An industry source said, "For the first time, the sector will make an attempt to function like any other day. Of course, there was no assurance from the government that public transport, mostly run by Citu workers, would ply, but the companies are gearing up to address logistics issues." |
Around 30 industry representatives attended the meeting this morning and they were told that anyone who required help, would receive so from the administration. |
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) head of Kolkata operations Ajoyendra Mukherjee said critical functions would be on and the employees would be brought to the office before the bandh. |