Rs 26K-cr loss in Delhi as strike sparks violence

Violence broke out in an industrial area in South Delhi on Thursday and factories were attacked in the capital's suburb Noida for the second day in the nationwide strike called by trade unions which badly hit banking services amid a mixed response in states.

Industry and trade bodies- CII and ASSOCHAM- said the estimated economic loss to India in the two-day strike from Wednesday will amount to Rs 26,000 crore which the country can ill afford at a time when the economy is under the grip of a major slowdown.

Public transport was also disrupted in several states while some ATMs of PSU banks in metro cities ran out of cash. Clearing operations and cash transactions also came to a grinding halt. Air and rail services remained unaffected, according to reports. Life remained normal in West Bengal but it was paralysed in Kerala for the second day.

The strike in the national capital took a violent turn when a group of protesters pelted stones at over a dozen factories and offices in Okhla Industrial Area in South Delhi.

Six trouble-makers were detained, police said. In Noida, around 200 workers pelted stones at a factory in Sector 5 breaking windows and damaged vehicles even as authorities imposed prohibitory order in the district of Uttar Pradesh. Five persons have been arrested in today's incident, senior superintendent of police Shalabh Mathur said.

"Around 100 workers had also assembled in the industrial area in Sector 10 and started pelting stones but police reached the spot and prevented damage to factories," he said.

"Barring these two minor incidents, no clash was reported from other places in the city," the Mathur said.

In Wednesday's violence, 150 cases were registered at the police station at Phase 2 in Noida by industrialists against trade-union leaders and rioters, Mathur said.

Noida Entrepreneurs Association president Vipin Malhan has  estimated loss of Rs 600 crore in Wednesday's violence as it included loss of production and damage to property. The ten unions have put forward a charter of 10 demands that included urgent steps to control price rise, strict enforcement of labour laws, end to disinvestment in PSUs and raising minimum wage to Rs 10,000 a month.

Describing the strike as the "biggest" working class action since Independence, Left parties warned the government that "bigger actions" will follow if demands raised by workers are not immediately met.