25 crore workers join nationwide strike against Centre’s labour laws

All government offices and major business establishments remained closed across Left-ruled Kerala, where public transport also went off the road. West Bengal witnessed sporadic clashes in several parts as Left unions took out rallies, disrupting vehicular movement and forcing shopkeepers to down the shutters. The strike also partially affected normal life in Odisha, Puducherry, Assam and Telangana.

With bank unions joining the stir, banking operations in Kerala, West Bengal and north-eastern states were hit. Operations such as cash deposits and withdrawal and cheque clearances were impacted.

Bank unions claimed that in the clearing grids, about 20 lakh cheques worth about Rs 18,000 crore could not be sent for clearance due to the strike.

Even ATMs in some parts of the country went dry. However, SBI and private sector banks were functional.

TN part of stir: Members of various trade unions in Tamil Nadu also took part in the strike. The trade union members staged demonstrations, holding rallies in all districts barring 13, including Chennai which faced the wrath of cyclone Nivar, union sources said. The State government had also declared aholiday for the 13 districts in view of Nivar. According to trade union leaders, they decided to go ahead with the strike in places which were not affected by the cyclone. The unions claimed that as many as 50,000 workers took part in the strike.