CHANDIGARH: The two-day statewide bandh called by various Several Sikh political parties evoked a near total response Aug.14.and15 but was peaceful (August 15 is India’s independence day).

Normal lite was thrown out of gear as the bandh was almost complete in the rural and semi-rural areas. It was however partial in the 12 district headquarters.

The Army was called in to assist the civil administration in several sensitive pockets of the state following a request from the state govt. The bandh call is a part of the boycott program announced for the Independence Day celebrations. it was endorsed at a Sikh conclave at Anandpur Sahib last Sunday by 30 political religious social and human rights groups.

The success of the bandh ensured through posters a whisper campaign and Press statements has demonstrated the militants’ will and the fear psychosis among the people. lt has exposed the claim of the govt that arrangements had been made to thwart the bandh THINATTENDANCE: Although govt offices and banks remained open in most parts of the state attendance was thin. There were reports of banks remaining closed in some districts while private schools and colleges observed a holiday’. The Punjab Agricultural University remained closed.

The train services were normal and the Punjab Roadways operated a truncated bus service under heavy police escort but the number of passengers was below normal there were few private vehicles on the road.

No buses plied on the link roads. At several places transport unions suspended work. Commercial establishments remained closed in the rural areas and were partially open in the Urban areas.

Supplies of milk vegetables and fodder from the rural areas to the towns were severely disrupted the bandh was total in the rural areas of the three border districts of Amritsar. Gurdaspur and Ferozepur although the effect in the district headquarters was partial.

Posters put up by the militants were reportedly found in rural segments of Hoshiarpur and Sangrur districts. There were also reports of the police forcibly opening shops and commercial establishments by breaking locks.

In Mohali a correspondent of the Punjabi daily. Ajit was roughed up and detained by the police after they objected to his taking pictures of policemen breaking locks of shops. His camera was snatched.

The state govt tried to play down the impact of the bandh affected only in some parts of the state. A lengthy handout claimed that the people in the state completely ignored the bandh call and there was no response in all the 12 districts.

In bandh-related violence militants Tuesday sellable 22 trucks and two vans in two separate incidents and blew up a portion of a railway track in Sangrur district. Over two dozen militants stopped seven trucks and two vans on the Dirba-Patran road and later set them on fire. in a similar incident another group of militants set ablaze 15 trucks on the Sangrur Barnala road. A portion of the railway track was blown up by a bomb device planted between the Sheikh and Jalal railway stations disrupting rail traffic on that route.

Due to the bandh call road traffic was less than normal. State owned transport companies plied a skeletal service escorted by security guards even as bus services of other state transport corporations to Punjab remained suspended as a precautionary measure.

 BORDER AREAS: in the border districts the bandh was almost total. Even Amritsar where markets remained partially open Tuesday observed a near-total bandh Wednesday with a mere 20% remaining open. Essential supplies of milk vegetables and fodder were severely affected.

In most district headquarters other than those of the border districts the bandh evoked a partial response. Interestingly unlike Tuesday the state govt abstained from issuing a handout on the bandh. Tuesday a govt handout had claimed that there had been no response to the bandh call.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 23, 1991