KOCHI: The nationwide general strike called by a forum of 10 trade unions on Wednesday, to protest against new labour codes and privatisation, was near total in Kochi. Though private vehicles plied on the city roads, private and KSRTC buses stayed away. Government offices and companies at Infopark worked with limited staff. Even the private banks in the city saw only the officers working, and no financial transactions took place.
According to P M Veeramani, former president of the Cochin Chamber of Commerce, shops and other commercial establishments in the city remained closed on the day. “Those who tried to open their shops were forced to close them in some places,” he said.
As for Kochi Metro and Water Metro services, a KMRL official said ridership was much lower than other days.
KSRTC’s district transport officer, Ramesh, said, “No services operated from the depot.”
In the case of educational institutions, the schools had declared a holiday, while the colleges conducted classes online. The teachers were asked to come in and mark their attendance. The strike saw Infopark go silent, with most of the companies allowing their employees to work from home. According to Anish Pandalani of Progressive Techies, the number of people who worked on-site on Wednesday was low.
“A majority of the people took the work-from-home option provided by the companies,” he pointed out.
Though train services operated normally, the number of passengers was below normal, a railway official with the Thiruvananthapuram Division said.
“Shops remaining closed might be a reason. Also, office-goers might have taken a holiday as the lack of connecting services to their destinations would have made travelling difficult even if they utilised the train services,” the official said.