Bharat bandh: 14 arrested for violence in Noida

mangaloretoday.com/ NDTV

Noida, Feb 20: On security cameras from the entrance of AnG House, a company that deals with security surveillance equipment, a crowd of at least 10 people are seen entering the gates, smashing glass, breaking and picking up computers, and other equipment and even tearing papers and registers. All this even as one of them is seen filming on his cell phone.

The violence erupted in Noida today, just 11 kms east of Delhi, during a bandh or strike called by major trade unions to protest against high prices.  By the end of the day, 14 people had been arrested. 

 

The damage was extensive.  At least 700 factories had been attacked.  Seven cars and a fire engine were set on fire; another 12 cars had been vandalized.

"In my own factory, mobs climbed the gates and walls, broke and carried away computers, and damaged the external facade of the building," factory owner Pankaj Sadh said 

It’s not clear yet if the mob, armed with bricks and stones, included workers on strike, or comprised largely of people who leveraged the bandh to loot offices.

In the afternoon, the police baton-charged a mob of nearly hundred people.

The police admit it was easily outnumbered because most of its officers had been assigned to protect government buildings during the strike.

For factory owners, it’s not just the losses of today that are worrying.  Without adequate police cover, they say, their offices could be vulnerable to more attacks, especially if it turns out that today’s rampage was not incited by union workers, but by local miscreants. 

 

Bharat bandh losses may mount to Rs. 26,000 crore: Assocham

Kolkata: Industry body Assocham today said the loss to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) due to the strike by central trade unions could be about Rs. 26,000 crore, higher than its initial estimate of Rs. 15,000-20,000 crore.

"Against initial estimates of Rs. 15,000-20,000 crore, the GDP may be eroded by about Rs. 26,000 crore," the industry body said in a release.

"In the wake of a more than expected disruption, we estimate the loss to the GDP in today and tomorrow’s bandh to be in the region of Rs. 25,000-Rs. 26,000 crore -- nearly 50 per cent of economic activity," an economic analysts’ team from Assocham said.

The financial capital of Mumbai was hit badly, Assocham said, adding that the strike hit industrial activity and service sectors like banking and finance.