A day after violence erupted during the nationwide strike at neighbouring Noida, at least 12 industrial units were pelted with stones by protesters at Okhla Industrial Area in South Delhi on Thursday. Moving around in small groups, the protesters hurled stones at the industrial units causing damage to property and about half a dozen vehicles parked there.
According to the police, trouble began around 11-30 a.m. when some protesters while raising slogans against the Central Government and its policies got belligerent when they were prevented from entering some industrial units and forcing their closure.
The police said they have detained six persons for the violence.
Elsewhere in the city, the impact of the strike was harsh on the commuters as a majority of autos and taxis did not operate since five major unions had joined the protest action.
Though the Delhi Transport Corporation operated additional buses, they offered little solace to the passengers. A large number of banks, commercial complexes, offices and industrial units also remained closed or reported thin attendance.
As part of the protest action, a large number of activists and supporters of the trade unions held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar. This joint protest was led by Amarjeet Kaur, Dhirendra Sharma and Dinesh Varshney of AITUC, Abni Roy of UTUC, G. Devrajan of STUCC, S. C. Pant of CITU, Haresh Tiwari of AIUTUC and Ramraj of Swatantra Samyukta Morcha.
Another big rally was organised by Delhi Jal Board workers at Jhandewalan. Protest rallies were also taken out by workers of the 11 participating central trade unions in different industrial areas of Delhi.
Delhi Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami said like on the first day of the two-day strike, DTC again operated more buses than scheduled during the day in order to mitigate the suffering of the commuters.
He said a total of 5,141 buses operated during the day, which was 24 more than the number seen in operation on Wednesday.
“The DTC has a total fleet of 5,438 buses and thus more than 95 per cent of the fleet is being operated. The services remained normal and only a few minor incidents were reported.”
