Millions of people walked to their destinations as a state-wide transport strike to protest rise in fuel prices threw life out of gear in West Bengal on Monday.
Roads across the state wore a deserted look as hundreds of thousands of private and public transport vehicles were pulled off by West Bengal Road Transport Workers' Federation, the chief organisers of the strike.
The strike is being supported by the state's ruling leftist coalition, which has criticised the central government for the hike in the prices of petroleum products.
Emergency services, including medical services, fire brigade and milk services, have been kept outside the purview of the strike.
Thousands of people from Kolkata were seen walking from the Howrah and Sealdah railway stations to their offices in the city's central business district of Dalhousie.
School buses didn't pick up children, taxis kept off the roads and even auto rickshaws stopped plying.
Several public schools had declared Monday as a holiday because students wouldn't be able to make it. College and university examinations have been rescheduled. Attendance in most offices was affected.
The city's underground railway functioned normally, but trains were overcrowded.
"The strike may inconvenience commuters, but it's much more important to protest the increase in fuel prices," said State Transport Minister Subash Chakraborty.
"Those who want to go to office today can walk it. It is a spontaneous shutdown," the minister said.
An all-India transport strike has been called on Tuesday, but it wouldn't affect West Bengal as it is observing the shutdown on Monday.
