City braces for total shutdown

KOLKATA: Another bandh, another man-day lost. For the ruling Left Front in Bengal, just another day at work'. But the rest of the state will be counting the cost in crores, in terms of tears shed as hospitals get out of bounds, and in terms of the trauma of missed interviews and lost opportunities.
At the end of the day, all this pain and posturing would have been for nothing.Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has already ruled out any rollback of fuel prices. But when has the Left shirked from fighting for a lost cause?
Kolkata will be out of reach from dawn to dusk on Monday. If the bitter experience of the past counts, then CPM cadres will be let loose on the streets in these 12 hours, shutting down shops, harassing office-goers, puncturing vehicles and doing everything they can to make the bandh "a great success".
Private airlines have already decided against operating any flights from the city airport from 6am to 6pm.
Expectedly, train services long distance and local will be the worst hit. Bus operators have already said a big no to running buses for the day. "We can't run the risk of having our buses damaged. There is no protection for us on a bandh day," said Tapan Banerjee, joint secretary of the Joint Council Of Bus Syndicates.
Even Metro, the city's lifeline, is unlikely to be spared. On previous occasions, CPM cadres blocked the entrance to the Metro stations forcing people to stay out and empty trains to run. Monday won't be any different. Schools and colleges have asked students to stay at home. Parents of toddlers have received SMSs asking them not to send their child to school. Exams from university to school level have been rescheduled.
Though CPM central committee member and Rajya Sabha MP Shyamal Chakraborty has assured that the health services will be spared, hospital managements are jittery. Every major private hospital has to ensure that at least half of the staff are brought to the hospital for the minimum care to be provided to the patients. In government hospitals, most of the group-D staff are going to stay away from work. An additional 2000 policemen will be deployed to prevent any violence, but that is cold comfort.
"This is a major nuisance. How many times will bandhs be called in a year?" asked the director of a private hospital off EM Bypass. Just nine days ago, Citu had ensured a total shutdown of the state over the same issue.
The state's sunshine sector IT hasn't been exempted. IT majors have already got in touch with the authorities to ensure that there is no disruption in the day. Some have declared a holiday after putting in extra hours on Saturday.
The ruling Left came under fire from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday. "For 34 years they have been in power and have called bandhs. Now, when they are about to be ousted, they are again calling bandhs. Maoists have called a bandh on July 7 and 8. In Darjeeling, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha has threatened a 40-day bandh. What is going on?" Mamata said.
She admitted that Trinamool had called bandhs during the Singur-Nandigram agitation, but "not any longer". "Bandhs don't serve any purpose. Who's going to take responsibility for the losses suffered? The state government has increased the common man's hardship by calling bandhs twice over the same issue. We are doing what we can to reduce the prices," she said.