Mamata's appeal to keep life normal tomorrow

"Trinamool Congress will not take to streets tomorrow to counter strike. My government will not allow any forcible closure of shops and offices," she said, asking pro-strike processions not to block roads.

The chief minister asked government employees to attend duty as usual tomorrow, and warned of action, including a break in service as per rules in the event of absence, and asked transport operators to ply vehicles to facilitate passenger movement.

Calling for an end to politics of bandh which causes enormous loss to the state exchequer, Banerjee said, "We also called bandhs when we were in the opposition in the past, but later realised its futility.

"We think people have forgiven us for correcting ourselves for calling bandhs which were also rarely."

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She said that her government would no longer allow any bandh politics in the state which witnessed state-sponsored shutdowns in the past.

Lashing out at the Communist Party of India-Marxistand Left parties for choosing the "politics of bandhs", Mamata said, "They have taken up the weapon of bandhs as a life-long method in the last 35 years."

Asking why the strike sponsors (11 central trade unions) converted the industrial strike into a general strike, she said, "It is proven that strikes and bandhs had caused

colossal loss to the state exchequer in the past. . .We in the government only know how difficult it is to run a government with an empty exchequer."

For Rediff Realtime News On February 28 National Strike, . . .