Barring some industrial areas like Durgapur and Asansol, where the shutdown had partial impact, offices, shops and business establishments, schools and other educational institutions remained closed over a large part of the state and train and vehicular traffic were severely hit, official reports said.

Sporadic clashes between Trinamool and CPI(M) supporters were reported from some areas including Kolkata but there was no report of any major violence except in Nandigram where gun battles raged, leaving two injured. At least, 2,000 bundh supporters were arrested from different parts of the state to ensure the law and order, Home Secretary P R Roy told newsmen here at the state secretariat where attendance was thin. Miscreants blocked the rail and road traffic at various places, Mr Roy said. However, some long distance trains left after the blockades were lifted by police, Eastern Railway sources said.

“Flights operated normally,” Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) director V K Monga said. But passengers had a harrowing time reaching the airport with no taxis plying in the city where the metro service functioned normally. The Trinamool Congress kept essential services, healthcare, media and the IT sectors outside the purview of the shutdown. “The response to shutdown was total and peaceful,” TMC chief Ms Mamata Banerjee claimed and offered her apology for causing inconvenience to people. “For the sake of peace in Nandigram, I request them to bear with us,” she said. On Tuesday, she claimed that her party would ‘paralyse’ West Bengal on Wednesday for the sake of peace and the right to live in Nandigram.

However, the CPI-M claimed that the shutdown was a flop. “People have foiled the shutdown by rejecting the call,” CPI-M leader Shymal Chakraborty said.


‘No CRPF in Nandigram’
Kolkata, DHNS: A senior RSP leader Kshiti Goswami on Wednesday opposed the West Bengal government’s move to deploy central forces at Nandigram. The opposing minister said such a move would send a “wrong message”  to the people.

“If the CRPF reach Nandigram, it will send a wrong signal  to the people and the issue should be discussed in the Left Front,” said Goswami at the state secretariat here. He is also the Public Works Department minister.

He said the CPI(M) and the Left Front had earlier opposed deployment of central forces to restore order. “Even during the last elections, we opposed the CRPF deployment. But now the CPI(M) wants to discuss the issue bilaterally and not at the Left Front,” he said.

“The state government has adequate forces to tackle the situation if properly utilised,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said he has spoken to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Monday and sought CRPF reinforcement to contain violence in Nandigram.