Banks and commercial establishments were closed in almost all towns of Himachal Pradesh Tuesday and trade unions of central government employees also joined the nationwide strike to protest violation of labour laws and privatisation.
However, there was no report of traffic being held up due to the strike. There was also no report of violence anywhere, police officials here said.
The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) shut offices as their employees went on a daylong strike. Employees of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation and over 30,000 ‘anganwadi’ workers also joined the daylong shutdown.
“The shutdown was complete in the state,” Jagat Ram, state president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), told IANS. CITU is affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
The impact of the strike was more in the state capital Shimla and in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area in Solan district and Kala Amb in Sirmaur district.
Likewise, there was a complete shutdown in Solan, Dharamsala, Kangra, Palampur, Mandi, Rampur, Kullu and Una and Hamirpur towns.