Trade unions' strike evokes partial response in Tripura

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Agartala: The nationwide strike called by central trade unions evoked a partial response in Tripura on Tuesday, with schools and government offices largely functioning normally even as shops in parts of the state remained closed.

Vehicles were seen plying on roads in the state capital like any other day and banks and financial institutions were mostly open. Trains and long-distance buses also ran normally during the daytime. At Sonamura sub-divisional town in Sipahijala district, however, shops and marketplaces did not lift their shutters, but all offices and educational institutes remained open, barring one or two.
A senior police officer said no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state. A two-day-long strike has been called by ten major trade unions, including the CITU and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), to protest against the alleged anti-worker policies and unilateral labour reforms of the Narendra Modi-led Union government. The Tripura unit of the ruling BJP had urged people to boycott the protest.

Pratima Bhowmik, the general secretary of Tripura BJP, said Monday that the strike would cause inconvenience to people and spoil the work culture in the state. BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya, when contacted, said people have rejected this strike and everything was functioning normally. "We thank people for rejecting the bandh and responding to our appeal to boycott it," Bhattacharya told PTI on Tuesday.

Countering Bhattacharya's claims, Tripura CITU president Manik Dey claimed that the strike has received good response from across the nation. "We followed up since morning and found out that the response has been good. Roads were empty, shops were closed and maximum vehicles were off the roads," he told reporters. Dey also alleged that police forced vehicles owners to stay off roads and forced many shopkeepers to lift shutters. "We have never seen something like this before. The administration is threatening to cancel licenses of auto rickshaw drivers if they did not ply on roads," he told reporters.

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