'Bandh' hits Ahmedabad, services remain out of reach

It was a day of discomfort for people in the city. As the one-day bandh called by trade unions against the government's "anti-labour" policies affected as many as 15 services, people had to suffer as they could not get their work done.

All the 11 major trade unions of the country called for a bandh on Tuesday. The one-day bandh affected services like banking, LIC, transport, health and port. Around 7-8 lakh employees and workers from the state joined the bandh and did not attend work.

Secretary of Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU), Gujarat, Arun Mehta said: "Around 7,000 LIC officials from the state, central government and Income Tax employees and workers joined the bandh. Also, 100% participation was received from telephone office, anganwadis workers, link workers, etc."

National secretary of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Nihal Mehta, said, "One of the major issues that the trade union has raised is the price hike in the country. Other demands include minimum wage/salary that should be Rs10,000 for all employees, provision of pension for the labourers, and no contract system."

Units of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) also remained closed in Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat. The brass industry in Jamnagar was also affected.