CHANDIGARH: The nationwide shutdown call of the trade unions on Wednesday against the Centre's policies evoked a good response in Punjab as normal life was disrupted, but in Chandigarh and neighbouring Haryana it was mixed amid rains.
There was no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the states. The activists of several farmer associations were seen asking traders at several places in the Congress-ruled Punjab to keep their shops and business establishments closed to mark the pan India protest.
Reports of partial shutdown of shops and other establishments were received from Punjab's Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and other places. With the state-run roadways unions joining the strike, most of the buses were off the roads in Punjab.
In the Punjabi University in Patiala, some students and teachers joined the protest and did not allow the rest to enter the university campus. They also condemned the violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.
In Chandigarh, shops were slowly opening in some sectors. However, in neighbouring BJP-ruled Haryana the impact of shutdown was mixed. Sufficient security arrangements have been made in both the states to prevent any untoward incidents, said police.