August 6, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 26,1423

KOLKATA, Aug 5: Rail transport and business in West Bengal ground to a halt on Monday due to a strike called by the opposition over plans by the central government to carve up the railway network in the region, witnesses said.

Train services were disrupted when strikers began holding protests on the railway tracks from early morning, with police saying they had arrested 830 people who picketed on the rails and obstructed traffic on the roads.

Most private vehicles stayed off the roads in the Marxist-ruled eastern state, although government buses continued to run — most of them empty.

The usually bustling business district of the state capital Kolkata wore a deserted look, with shops remaining closed. Youths played cricket and football in the empty streets, witnesses said.

Several domestic flights at Kolkata airport were suspended due to the strike, athough a British Airways flight landed and took off again Monday morning, an airport official said.

The 24-hour strike was called by the opposition Trinamool Congress to protest against the proposed creation of a new railway zone in neighbouring Bihar state, which is expected to impact on employment in West Bengal.

Under the planned restructuring of Indian Railways by central government, three divisions of Eastern Railway, which is headquartered in Kolkata, will be hived off into a new rail authority, East Central Railway, which is to be headquartered in Hajipur, Bihar.

West Bengal Police Inspector General Chayan Mukherjee told AFP that more than 40,000 police were posted in 19 districts of the state to maintain peace during the strike.

“Most tea plantations remained closed as workers did not report for duty,” he said.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which governs the state, held protests in various parts of the city in opposition to the strike.

The Trinamool Congress, an ally of India’s ruling coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has demanded that Railway Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to divide eastern railways in two be withdrawn.

Eastern Railway has seven divisions — Howrah, Sealdah, Malda, Asansol, Moghulsarai, Danapur and Dhanbad.

Kumar wants to hive off three lucrative divisions — Moghulsarai, Danapur and Dhanbad — from Eastern Railway into the new East Central zone.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said the move would ruin the economy of West Bengal as the three divisions earn a lot of revenue by carrying coal and iron ore in the region.—AFP