Kerala would go in for a near-total shutdown of business, commercial, educational and government activities beginning 6 a.m. on Monday in response to a dawn-to-dusk hartal call given by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The ruling alliance has called the hartal in protest against the demonetisation impact on the State’s cooperative sector and denial of appointment to an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The all-party delegation was planning to meet the Prime Minister last Thursday to submit a resolution adopted by the Kerala Assembly on the curbs imposed on cooperative institutions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the wake of demonetisation, but was denied permission to do so.
Ruling front convener Vaikom Viswan said in a statement here on Sunday that hospitals, banks, marriages, tourist centres, vehicles carrying foreign tourists, pilgrims to and from Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple, areas neighbouring the Sabarimala temple and distribution of milk and newspapers would remain exempt from the hartal.
An official press release said on Sunday that the government had issued instructions to the police to ensure that tourists did not face any difficulty on account of the hartal. Vehicles carrying tourists should be given full protection, it said and quoted Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran as urging the hartal organisers not to cause any inconvenience to tourists.
Although the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) had joined the LDF in adopting the resolution at the session of the Assembly specially for discussing the crisis in the cooperative sector, it has chosen to distance itself from the hartal call. The alliance would stage a march by its MLAs to the Raj Bhavan under the leadership of Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.
Various universities in the State have announced postponement of examinations and admission procedures in view of the hartal.
