CALCUTTA, May 21: Millions of state employees in India went on strike on Wednesday, disrupting rail and air transport and crippling the financial sector to press for a reversal of the government’s privatization programme, trade unions said.

The strike was called by workers’ groups such as the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, which control millions of government employees.

Five of the nine major banking unions also joined the day-long action, which also targetted New Delhi’s labor policies, trade union leaders said.

“The strike is total in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal,” CITU secretary Swadesh Dev Roye said in New Delhi.

Roye said thousands of workers were also on strike at state-owned industries in states such as Assam, Haryana, Karnataka and Orissa.

Sectors such as insurance, coal and mining were hit by the protest but the strikers spared health services, including hospitals and related emergency medical services.

The unions have been demanding New Delhi freeze the ongoing privatization of state undertakings which they argue is resulting in large scale job losses.

The strike hit oil production, air services from New Delhi to Calcutta, and industrial production elsewhere in the country, reports said.

In some parts of India, the protest jammed pubic transport systems although there were no reports of disruption in the supply of essential items, including milk and water.

In the Indian capital, the police arrested a number of union leaders after they staged a noisy rally before the Supreme Court to demand “the right to strike.”

Reports of similar rallies and protest marches came in from various part of the country including from the seaside resort of Goa, were labor unrest is rare, officials said.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government has set a revenue target from privatisation of 132 billion rupees in the current financial year to March 2004.—AFP