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Youth Congress bandh paralyses Calcutta

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

Two private buses were set ablaze and several shops vandalised in Calcutta on Monday, as a 12-hour bandh called by the Youth Congress in protest against the recent massacre of Trinamul workers in Birbhum district of West Bengal, brought the city to a grinding halt.

Though neither the West Bengal Congress Committee nor the Trinamul Congress had supported the bandh, a Youth Congress press release claimed that it was a "complete success."

While the attendance in government offices was normal today, private offices were deserted and so were the streets. Barring public transport, all private vehicles, including taxi and auto rickshaws, stayed off the road.

Calcutta police arrested about 30 Youth Congress activists, including its state unit chief, Paresh Pal. Officers in Lal Bazar police headquarters, where Pal was taken, said the Youth Congress chief and his men were responsible for burning a public bus.

Another bus was burnt in south Calcutta, but the police's prompt intervention prevented the situation from going out of control.

According to an Eastern Railway source, the bandh affected services on the northern line at Sealdah station. He, however, added that long-distance trains, both from Sealdah and Howrah, ran according to schedule.

ALSO SEE
Birbhum massacre: Assembly witnesses uproarious scenes

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