IT firms unaffected by bandh

The 12-hour bandh called by the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal to oppose the acquisition of land for a private firm's project did not affect the operations of information technology and IT-enabled service firms in Kolkata and the surrounding areas. However, it disrupted road and rail connectivity in the state.

The Trinamool Congress has demanded that the Tata Motors' Rs 1 lakh car unit be shifted from Singur, a highly fertile 3-crop zone just 40 km from Kolkata, to backward and arid districts, and the Singur land takeover process be stopped.

The West Bengal government has already notified and taken over 997 acres of land in Singur. It has started paying compensation at 140 per cent of the government recognised land price to farmers in Singur. The landowners who did not handed over land would now be evicted and be paid 130 per cent of the value of land.

IT companies were prepared for the bandh and the state police had promised assistance to them in case of emergency.

"I will give the situation a ten out of ten as business in the IT sector is running as usual, despite the inconvenience caused by the bandh. We had offered to provide police assistance and escort employees of the IT sector from ten points in the city. However, there was no untoward incident today that required police intervention," said Siddharth, special secretary, IT department.

Attendance at call centres and BPOs was almost 95 per cent, while it was somewhat lower in software development firms.

"There was a slight drop in attendance today, but nothing of major significance. While our junior executives were picked up from home, we allowed our senior managers to work from home ," said Siddhartha Mukherjee, vice-president, CTS.

However, train services were disrupted due to the bandh. The departure of Saraighat Express, Howrah- New Delhi Special and Howrah-Maldah Intercity Express was re-scheduled. Air passengers at the Kolkata airport were stranded as no public transport was available.

However, there were no reports of vehicles being stopped by bandh enforcers, nor were their reports of protesters shutting down factories.