Heena Sharma Blog

Road and rail blockades were reported from several parts of West Bengal on Wednesday as trade union activists along with Left and Congress supporters picketed in support of the 24-hour general strike against the Centre's "anti-people" policies. The strikers took out rallies in parts of the state and blocked roads and railway tracks in North 24 Parganas district. But police removed them to ensure movement of vehicles without hitch. In Kolkata, government buses were plying normally but the number of private buses was less in the early hours. Metro services were normal in the city and auto-rickshaws and taxis were also seen on the roads. Heavy police deployment was seen in several areas of the city, including in Tollygunge, Behala, Esplanade and Jadavpur. In some areas of north Bengal, the Trinamool Congress took out rallies opposing the strike and urged people to maintain normalcy. Read More

Banking operations in some parts of the country were affected on Tuesday as two employee-unions are observing a nation-wide strike . Some of the services like cash deposit and withdrawal at the counter and cheque clearances have been impacted due to the strike by banking staff. Public sectors bank branches in urban areas of the country are, however, operational as officers these banks are not part of strike . Most of the banks including SBI had informed their customer about strike call given by All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) to protest against bank mergers and fall in deposit rates. Merger of banks is totally unwarranted in India as we need more banking services and opening of more branches to serve the people, AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said. "The merger has so far resulted in closure of branches and hence it is a wrong policy. Recovery of the huge bad loans is the top priority for banks,