Rallies and demonstrations marked the bandh called by the CPI district council and its frontal organisations in Kothagudem, the district headquarters town and hub of coal mining on Saturday.
The bandh has been called in support of the ongoing strike by five major trade unions in Singareni Coalfields. The strike pressed for revival of the dependent employment scheme.
The bandh evoked mixed response elsewhere in the coal belt region within the district.
The strike by the coal workers' owing allegiance to AITUC, CITU, INTUC, BMS and HMS entered the third day on Saturday.
A bike rally was organised by the CPI cadre led by the party district secretary Sabir Pasha in Kothagudem on Saturday afternoon.
The police stopped the bike rally at Ganesh temple and detained several demonstrators for sometime at a nearby police station before letting them off later in the day.
Earlier, while addressing the demonstrators, Mr Sabir Pasha alleged that the State government was trying to thwart the ongoing strike by workers in the State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). He said that the government was obstructing the strike without initiating appropriate steps to implement the dependent employment scheme and fulfil its oft-repeated promises to the workforce.
“The State government had issued a circular pertaining to on voluntary retirement scheme on health grounds in December last year in haste without ensuring its legal validity,” he charged.
AITUC Kothagudem division leaders A Seshaiah, and V Venkat also spoke on the matter.
