The Maharashtra bandh (shutdown) call issued by the state’s three ruling parties on Monday elicited varying reactions from establishments. Many districts’ shops are still closed, and the city-run local bus services are still inoperable. Local train services in Mumbai, on the other hand, are operating normally.
The strike was called to protest the ten-day-old killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.
“State transportation services were not disrupted in the morning, even though there were fewer passengers on board,” an official said. “There has been no official order issued by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, but the decision will be made by local district collectors if road operations are disrupted,” a corporation official added.
A few auto and taxi unions have also kept their services closed in many major cities, including Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan Dombivali in MMR. Shiv Sena workers blocked national and state highways in Kolhapur and Solapur in the morning, prompting the police administration to detain some of them.
In the morning, the MMR local train service was in operation.
“This is a bandh called by the ruling parties under Maha Vikas Aghadi, not the government” (the ruling coalition). Their administrations must decide whether to operate railways or BEST buses. We expect people to participate on their own because it is in support of farmers and a protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rule at the Centre,” NCP leader and state minister Nawab Malik said on Sunday.
“We appeal to all workers not to create any problems for essential services such as hospitals, ambulances, medical stores, and milk supply during the bandh,” Malik added.
The BJP and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have both spoken out against the bandh (MNS). “We are not justifying the atrocities against farmers; our only question is why Shiv Sena and NCP legislators did not oppose the farm bills when they were passed.” “The ruling alliance is abusing its power by ordering shops and establishments to close,” MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande said.