Bandh called by the Central Trade Unions Joint Action Committee(JAC) and supported by ruling and opposition parties against the strategic sale of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited(RINL) was near total and peaceful in South Coastal Andhra Pradesh.
The activists of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions(CITU) and All India Trade Union Congress(AITUC) held protest marches and motorcycle rallies in Nellore, Ongole, Naidupeta, Sullurupeta, Gudur and Kavali. Shops and other business establishments downed the shutters, while educational institutions declared a holiday for students.
Buses were confined to their depots till afternoon as the ruling YSR Congress Party expressed solidarity with the JAC which vehemently opposed the Centre’s decision to sell RINL and 99 other PSUs to bridge fiscal deficit.
Bandh supporters forced closure of Central government institutions and public sector financial institutions, including LIC, GIC and BSNL. All parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party and its poll ally Jana Sena Party, took part in the stir.
‘We will intensify stir’
The agitation would be intensified if the Centre went ahead with its decision to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant(VSP) disregarding the public sentiment, warned Communist Party of India (CPI) Prakasam District Secretary M.L.Narayana while taking part in a protest in front of the Prakasam Bhavan.
CPI(M) District Secretary P.Anjaneyulu suggested that the Centre impose 2% tax on the corporate sector to raise resources instead of selling the steel plant and other PSUs which were the result of the toil of working class people.
It was unfortunate that the Centre was bent upon the only major PSU in the State while giving a go-by to a host of infrastructure projects promised at the time of bifurcation by the Centre, said former TDP MLA from Ongole D.Janardhan Rao.
