Was The Bandh A Great Success..

Much of Calcutta went to work as usual during the SUCI-sponsored bandh but half of babudom didn’t, proving that where there is no will there is no way.

Attendance in the Sector V offices of almost all IT companies was close to 100 per cent on Thursday but Writers’ Buildings wore a deserted look with 50 per cent of the employees deciding to start the January 23-26 weekend two days early.

A section of those who did turn up at Writers’ Buildings and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation left after signing the attendance registers.

Metro Railway ran without a hitch and other forms of public transport — buses, taxis and autos — were available to people who wanted to reach their offices.

But a random survey by Metro at 12.30pm revealed only one-third of the government workforce was at work.

“I am leaving for Santiniketan later in the afternoon and won’t be back before Monday evening. The SUCI bandh has added an extra day to my trip,” a clerk in the municipal affairs department said.

In contrast to the nonchalance of the babus, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s blue-eyed techie and BPO brigade at the Salt Lake IT hub were out in full force. “Nobody faced any problem in reaching their workplaces,” said S.A. Ahmed, the chairman of the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority.

Officials of IT companies confirmed that it was business as usual for them. “We had almost 100 per cent attendance. Only a handful who commute from the suburbs by train did not report for duty,” a TCS superviser said.
Train services in Eastern Railway’s Sealdah division and South Eastern Railway’s Kharagpur division were affected by bandh supporters.

Police arrested 67 SUCI supporters for putting up roadblocks at the intersections of Lenin Sarani and JL Nehru Road, Hazra Road and SP Mukherjee Road, and at the Shyambazar five-point crossing. “More than 4,500 policemen and 76 police jeeps were patrolling the city,” said Pradip Chatterjee, the joint commissioner of police (administration).

The airport was busier than usual despite — or rather because of — the bandh. “The footfall was nearly 10,000. Normally the number is between 7,000 and 8,000,” airport director V.K. Monga said.

Airline officials attributed the rush to the extended weekend ahead. “There was a flood of last-minute bookings for the Republic Day weekend,” said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of the Travel Agents Federation of India.

Howrah station, too, witnessed frenetic footfall of the getaway gang. “There is a heavy rush on north Bengal and north India-bound trains. Darjeeling Mail was the top draw,” said an Eastern Railway spokesperson