Kolkata, July 9 (IANS) The nationwide protest called by 10 central trade unions and their affiliates on Wednesday has affected pockets in West Bengal in the first few hours of the strike, with reports of road and rail blockades surfacing.

Reports also surfaced of scuffles between the police personnel and strikers, as the police resorted to force to move away the strikers trying to block the rail and road. Life in certain areas of the state capital, Kolkata, was also affected following demonstrations.

At Jadavpur in South Kolkata, the strikers burnt tyres on the road. Processions were also brought out in support of the strike in different pockets of the city, like Jadavpur and Ganguly Bagan in South Kolkata and Lake Town in North Kolkata.

At Lake Town, the demonstrators even resorted to road blockade. As the police took action, there were minor scuffles between the cops and the strikers.

Meanwhile, reports of rail blockades also surfaced from different pockets of the state, like Lalgola in Murshidabad district, Durgapur in West Burdwan district, Domjur in Howrah district, and Bandel in Hooghly district, among others.

Railway services both in the main and south sections of the Sealdah division of Eastern Railways were majorly affected after 8 a.m. Besides resorting to rail blockades, the strikers also stopped the trains from proceeding by throwing banana leaves on the overhead railway wires.

The worst-affected were banking services in the state, with almost all the branches, both private and public, remaining closed. Even shutters were down for several ATMs.

Domjur in the Howrah district of West Bengal was the epicentre of tension over the general strike since Wednesday morning, over several rounds of scuffles between the strikers and the cops. The cops had to resort to mild lathi-charges there to disperse the strikers who blocked the roads which followed heavy congestion there.

At Bandel station in the Hooghly district, train services were affected as the strikers resorted to a railway blockade there for a couple of hours. Later, the cops removed the blockages, following which the train service started becoming normal after 10 a.m.

At Balurghat in the South Dinajpur district, several strikers were pocketing and blocking the Balurghat-Malda state highways, resulting in heavy traffic congestion there.

–IANS

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