Barring stray incidents of violence the dawn-to-dusk bandh — called by Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) and AJSU demanding special status for Jharkhand — evoked a spontaneous response.
Normal life was paralysed in the city as the Opposition parties’ activists hit streets for the shutdown. Over 300 political workers were arrested. Shops and commercial establishments — barring medical stores and hospitals — kept their shutters down in all the major localities of the city. At Bistupur and Sakchi, bandh supporters pelted stones and damaged wind screens of mini-buses and auto-rickshaws. They also vandalised a truck on the National Highway-33 at Mango.
“We are overwhelmed with the response to the bandh. We thank the shopkeepers, and people for extending their support in making the bandh a complete success,” said Abhay Singh, central secretary of JVM. Movement of trains were affected for about two hours at the Tatanagar railway station from 6 am as supporters of the JVM and AJSU carrying party flags and raising slogans squatted on the railway tracks.
The bandh supporters including AJSU legislator Ramchandra Sahis squatted on the tracks in front of the Howrah-bound Steel Superfast Express. Due to the agitation the train got delayed by about two hours. It left Tatanagar railway station at around 8.15 am against its schedule departure of 6.15 am. The Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Superfast Express also got delayed when it reached Tatanagar railway station. The train is supposed to arrive Tatanagar at 6.35 am but due to the agitation at Ghatshila it got delayed. The superfast train reached here at 7.15 am.
The bus terminus also wore a deserted look as long distance Government and private buses stayed off the road. Several passengers had to cancel their trips. According to the police, in all over 300 bandh activists were taken into preventive custody only to be released later in the evening. AJSU MlA said : “We struggled for the formation of a separate State and are proud to be in a State with the richest mineral reserves. But owing to central norms, the State cannot utilise its own resources. Several thousand people have already expressed their willingness to join the movement.”
Shedding more light on the factors favouring special status the senior leader said that around 67 per cent area of the State has minerals. But most of the iron ore are exported to different states using the infrastructure of Jharkhand while the maintenance cost is bear by the State only. He also said that since most of the Public Sector Units have headquarters in major cities outside the State Jharkhand incurs a loss of Rs 10,000 crores.