Delhi commuters pay the price

Movement of 31 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses remained affected in the National Capital Region on Monday following the agitation over price hike. Tyres of 29 buses were deflated while window panes of the remaining two were damaged causing great inconvenience to the commuters. Meanwhile, operation of the Dwarka-Noida Metro line was hit in the morning as the agitators reportedly dug a pit on the Uttam Nagar Metro station track.

800 arrested in Orissa during bandh

Bhubaneswar: About 800 bandh supporters were arrested in Orissa during the country-wide bandh against petro price hike which hit life across the state and stalled road and rail traffic today.

The bandh was called separately by different political parties in the state.

"We are organising a peaceful bandh," ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters at his office at the state secretariat here.

Despite BJD's support to the bandh, the state government offices remained open and employees were asked to reach their work places early.

Official sources about 800 bandh supporters, including BJP state unit president Jual Oram and senior leaders Suresh Pujari and P Harichandan were arrested while picketing at different places to enforce the bandh.

While Oram and Harichandan were held along with about 100 BJP workers while picketing here, Pujari and former BJP MP Surendra Lath were arrested in Sambalpur, where 200 supporters were also taken into custody, official sources said.

The bandh supporters disrupted movement of trains and buses leaving a large number of passengers stranded at Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Cuttack, Balasore, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Bhadrak.

Some employees of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, including a personnel manager was injured when bandh supporters, allegedly belonging to BJD, stormed into company headquarters at Burla near Sambalpur and assaulted its staff and damaged electronic equipment and furniture, company sources said.

Bandh supporters prevented NALCO employees from entering their corporate office here though the production units of the navaratna PSU at Damanjodi and Angul functioned normally, company sources said.

Work in NTPC's thermal power plant at Kaniha near Angul was also unaffected.

A Paradip report said though bandh supporters forced the administrative building of Paradip Port Trust to be closed for over two hours in the morning, loading and unloading activities in the port was normal. But clearing and forwarding of the goods were paralysed, official sources said.

Other industrial units including IFFCO, PPL and other private companies were functioning with first shift employees attending to their offices.

In Rourkela the bandh was peaceful and RSP functioned as usual. While shops and business outfits downed their shutters, trains were stopped.

Reports from the districts said about 152 people were arrested at Balangir, 70 at Rourkela, 35 at Rengali and 30 at Dhenkanal.

NDA leaders court arrest in Delhi; Gadkari slams govt policies

NDA leaders led by Nitin Gadkari today held a protest rally and courted arrest here as part of their nationwide strike against price rise, with the BJP chief blaming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the situation.

Addressing a rally at Chandni Chowk area, Gadkari said, "Price rise has nothing to do with your religion, caste or community. Wrong economic policies and bad governance of the government are the basic reasons of price rise."

Seeking to unite the whole opposition on the issue, Gadkari said he did not believe in "political untouchability" and was willing to visit the office of any political party to discuss price rise.

He claimed that whenever non-Congress governments came to power, there was no price rise and inflation.

"When they (Congress) came to power, they promised to bring down prices in 100 days but instead of coming down, it has increased by three to four times," Gadkari said.

The BJP President said NDA would raise the issue of price rise in both Houses of Parliament in the forthcoming session.

Key NDA allies JD(U) and Shiromani Akali Dal were also a part of the rally here.

Gadkari claimed that the basic cost of petrol was only Rs 16.50 per litre but it was being sold for Rs 53 per litre after taxation. The price of petrol was much less in several countries, he said.

Accusing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being responsible for price rise, he said the money of the poor was going into the hands of the multinationals.

"Unfortunately the Prime Minister and the government are concerned about oil companies, not the common man," he said.

He also asked why UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi were "silent" on the issue of spiralling prices.

NDA Convenor and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav said this was for the first time in India's history that all political parties have come together against the government.

"This government has left everything to the market," Yadav alleged, and asked the Prime Minister to "either bring down prices or leave his chair".

Former BJP President Rajnath Singh alleged that the government was "dancing to the tunes of America" and warned that the party will not allow Parliament to function during monsoon session beginning July 26 on the issue of price rise.

The NDA leaders, also including Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur, later courted arrest in Chandni Chowk.

As part of the protest, BJP activists blocked traffic and rail services in some parts of the capital. The party workers blocked roads in Laxmi Nagar, ITO, Preet Vihar, Akshardham and Madhuban Chowk among other areas.

This was the first time key NDA ally JD(U) was sharing a platform with BJP after barbs of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Rajnath Singh said, "I see anger in the people...In the last six years when the Congress led UPA came to power, only the big leaders of Congress have prospered and they have given price rise to the people of the country".

Terming price rise as a kind of "illegal extraction" from the people, he said growth never reached double digits while inflation did.

He said the BJP's movement will continue till the prices come down.

Senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra termed the Bharat Bandh as "historic" saying it was the most successful bandh ever in the last 63 years after Independence.

"From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Nagaland to the shores of Gujarat, the entire country has come to a standstill," Mitra said.

Harsimrat Kaur of the SAD said every citizen of the country has been affected by price rise and referred to the telecom and IPL scams during the UPA government. She also took a dig at the government over the expenditure incurred on the Commonwealth Games.

Commuters stay away from Metro

14.00 p.m.

The Noida-Dwarka route of the Delhi Metro saw very less traffic with commuters choosing not to use the Metro after the protestors stopped trains at Rajiv Chowk.

K'taka Assembly adjourned over bandh

Bangalore

Karnataka Assembly was adjourned for the day today without transacting any business as the ruling BJP and opposition members were locked in a slanging match over the Bharat bandh.

As the House met, BJP members holding placards raised anti-UPA slogans for hiking fuel prices, while the opposition countered it seeking to highlight the alleged mining scam in the state.

Speaker K G Bopaiah repeatedly appealed to the ruling party members not to disrupt the proceedings, reminding them that the Assembly was not a "political platform" and their conduct was not proper.

With BJP members refusing to yield, the Chair adjourned the House for half-an-hour. The situation was no different when the House re-assembled as BJP members shouted "Down, Down UPA" and "UPA shame, shame".

Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah (Congress) appealed to the Speaker to name protesting members and evict them, describing their protest as being "disrespectful" to the Assembly.

The Speaker's repeated appeals again fell on deaf ears, leading to Bopaiah adjourning the House for the day.

Later, speaking to reporters, Siddaramaiah said the support to the bandh given by the BJP Government was against the rulings of Supreme Court which held that no party should support such strikes.

"It's highly condemnable", he said, accusing the government of disrupting the House in an attempt to "hush up" the alleged mining scam.

13.40 p.m.

Rajnath Singh, Sharad Yadav court arrest in New Delhi.

Gadkari leads rally at Chandni Chowk

13.21 p.m

BJP president Nitin Gadkari addresses rally at Chandni Chowk, says the current situation is duie to the UPA government's misgovernance.

Protestors vandalise eatery in Bhopal

13.01 p.m.

Prtestors ransacked an eatery, Food Plaza, near the Habibganj station in Bhopal in the first reported incident of bandh-related violence.

Bandh supporters block road, rail and Metro services in Capital

12.40 p.m.

New Delhi: The nation-wide Bharat Bandh called by opposition parties to protest fuel price rise did not seem to have hit normal life in the capital today though BJP workers blocked road, rail and metro services in some areas.

Buses, autos and private vehicles were plying on the streets from the morning, while offices registered more than an average attendance. Operations at the Indira Gandhi International airport were reported normal.

"Delhi Police has taken adequate security measures to ensure law and order during the protest. Policemen are on streets to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. No violence has been reported," a senior police official said.

BJP supporters entered Metro stations in Rajiv Chowk, Karol Bagh, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri West and Uttam Nagar stations posing as passengers and shouted slogans. Protestors also locked the gates of Patel Nagar station creating problems for commuters.

DMRC officials, however, said services were not hit and trains ran as per schedule.

Protesters also targeted the Indian Railways by blocking trains at Nangloi, Badli and Shakurpur stations.

Party workers started assembling around 9 AM in various parts of the capital and blocked traffic in major intersections and roads like Laxmi Nagar, Vikas Marg, ITO, Preet Vihar, Akshardham and Madhuban Chowk.

Protests were also witnessed at the Inter-State Bus Terminal in east Delhi's Anand Vihar where BJP workers blocked the entrance of the depot preventing buses from coming in and going out.

In Preet Vihar, some BJP activists entered into a scuffle with police during the protest. "We were trying to remove the blockade after arresting some leaders. They wanted all of them to be arrested and entered into a scuffle with us," a senior police official said.

In some localities like Uttam Nagar, protestors punctured tyres of DTC buses and some private vehicles.

Police said traffic obstructions due to protest were reported from Lado Sarai, Mahaveer Murty towards Gurgoan, Devli Mode, MB Road, Sai Baba Chowk, Rohini and Janakpuri.

Vehicular movement was also affected at Nizamudin-Ring Road T point, Tigri Khanpur, Apsara Border, Sindhu Border, Burari Chowk, Khajuri Chowk, Prashant Vihar and Paschim Vihar due to the protest.

Police said personnel have been deployed across the city to manage the traffic.

The bandh had little affect on the operations of the Indira Gandhi International airport here though some flights to Mumbai, where the protest disrupted normal life, have been cancelled.

"Most of the arriving and departing flights were on schedule. No services have been disrupted though some flights to Mumbai have been cancelled," an airport official said.
 

TDP chief arrested for leading bandh in Andhra Pradesh

12.35 p.m.

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu has been arrested by the police in Hyderabad. TDP is a part of the Opposition coalition NDA.

Bangalore: Local trains in Bangalore halted

Trains, flights affected by bandh

12.05 p.m.

Mumbai: Domestic flights were hit hard: 42 arrivals and 47 departures were cancelled.  One international flight -Air India's Mumbai-Delhi-Hong Kong- was cancelled.

Kolkata: All private airlines have cancelled flights out of the city between 6 am to 6 pm because of bandh.

Patna:  Protesters in Bihar have blocked about 10 Express and mail trains since morning.

Banking operations in most parts of the country remained largely open

Opposition parties' leaders court arrest

11.54 a.m.

BJP National Secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad arrested in Patna.

Samajwadi Party protests also joins the protest in Lucknow. Top SP leaders Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav arrested in Lucknow.

Left demands roll back of fuel prices hike.

BJP leader Kirit Somaya detained in Mulund, Mumbai.

The Anand Vihar Bus Terminus has also been blocked by protesters.

BJP leader Vijay Jolly has been detained at the BRT corridor in South Delhi.

All schools and most business establishments are closed in Kerala.

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party is not supporting the bandh

Protestors storm Rajiv Chowk Metro station

11.25 a.m.

Bandh supporters protest inside Rajiv Chowk Metro station, stop tarins.

Traffic blocked at ITO as Left takes out rally

11.20 a.m.

Left leaders take out a rally at ITO, strain traffic.

Trains idle at Karol Bagh, Rajiv Chowk as Bandh lays siege on Metro

New Delhi

10.40 a.m.

Protestors block traffic at Karol Bagh, Rajiv Chowk metro stations.

In Mumbai, local trains have been stopped near Borivali station.

Mumbai-Vidharba train has been stopped by protestors at Amravati.

Jaitley, Naqvi arrested in Lucknow in bandh crackdown

BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi have been arrested in Lucknow by city police even as bandh-supporters were latchicharged.

Bandh forces shut down in WB, impact felt elsewhere too

Kolkata

Normal life was thrown out of gear in the city today with air, rail and road services disrupted due to the Bharat Bandh called by Left and BJP-led NDA to protest hike in fuel prices.

Though metro rail services were operating, long distance train services were hit and many trains were stopped at various stations.

At the NSC Bose International Airport, only Air India operated its flights since morning. Five domestic flight including Kolkata-Delhi and Kolkata-Mumbai had taken off besides the Kolkata-Singapore international flight. However, private airlines did not operate their flights, airport sources said.

In the city, roads wore a deserted look in the absence of any traffic. Shops and most of the markets were closed.

This was the second bandh in the state after the hike in price of petro products.

Kerala roll down shutters as bandh begins

Thiruvananthapuram

Normal life was disrupted in Kerala today due to the nation-wide strike called by the NDA and Left parties to protest hike in fuel prices.

This is the second shut-down being observed by the state over the same issue in a span of 10 days.

Shops remained closed and buses, taxis and autorickshaws kept off the roads throughout the state, seriously affecting the mobility of people.

Police said no violence was reported from anywhere.

The ruling LDF had observed a day-long hartal on June 26 against increase in prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG.

Maha geared up for maintaining normalcy

Mumbai

The Maharashtra Government has geared up its entire machinery to ensure that normal life is not affected during the nation-wide bandh called by Opposition parties today to protest the fuel price hike and warned that any attempts to disrupt law and order would be dealt with seriously.

About 40,000 police personnel are on the streets of Mumbai to avert any incidence of violence. The city police is being assisted by Rapid Action Force (RAF) and state reserve police forces to maintain law and order.

Opposition parties, which have called for the bandh, have described the hike in petroleum products as "unjustified" and demanded a rollback.

Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena, MNS and other smaller non-Congress-NCP parties in Maharashtra are supporting the bandh called by the NDA and Left parties.