Puducherry Mar 29 PTI Normal life was affected in Puducherry on Tuesday on the second day of Bharath Bandh organised by central trade unions Shops and establishments remained closed cinema halls downed shutters privately-operated bus services were off the roads causing disruption in transport services Hotels also remained closed during the bandh organised by trade unions to protest against the anti-people anti-worker anti-farmer polices of the Centre Police were deployed in strength at all major places in the Union Territory Government-operated bus services functioned normally as office attendance was normal Most schools declared a holiday but those institutions conducting revision exams however functioned normally Two-wheelers zoomed in and around Puducherry Fish markets vegetable stalls and tea shops remained closed Banking services were partially hit by the strike and branches of some banks were functioning with less turnout of customers Police patrolling teams were seen keeping vigil on the situation Delegates of different political parties and trade union outfits held demonstrations at various points The Rajiv Gandhi Municipal bus terminal in neighbouring Orleanpet presented a forlorn look as the private fleet operators kept the vehicles off the roads PTI COR HDA HDA

Patna Jan 28 PTI Normal life in Bihar was on Friday affected by a dawn to dusk bandh called by students bodies in protest against anomalies in the format of exams conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board and police high handedness against protesting students Opposition parties like the RJD the Left and the Congress extended their support to the bandh took active part in many places and expressed satisfaction over its success The BJP which is in the focus of the agitation as it rules at the Centre besides shares power in the state urged the student community to have faith in the Narendra Modi government and be wary of playing into the hands of RJD-led opposition The problem for the BJP is that it faces assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where the agitation has spread and where happenings in Bihar have a reverberation State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal came out with a Facebook post claiming that he has personally spoken to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav who has assured that concerns of the aggrieved examinees will be squarely addressed Ashwani Vaishnav is a former IAS officer who began his career by cracking a tough competitive exam Yours truly earned his MBBS after much academic rigor You students can count on us said Jaiswal In a thinly veiled attack on Lalu Prasads RJD he added those who have depended on capture of polling booths for whom kidnappings and murders were political tools will only take advantage of you The day went off peacefully barring skirmishes between policemen and bandh supporters at many places There was no incident of full blown violence and rail traffic which had been hit during recent stirs was spared on the day Road traffic was however affected as bandh supporters placed burning tyres at crossroads in cities and on the highways resulting in long queues of stranded vehicles Police said some bandh supporters were apprehended at places where they caused much trouble and tried to intimidate shopkeepers to down their shutters though details were not available The men in uniform have been drawing flak from political parties including Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JDU for lodging cases against agitators which has given rise to a volatile situation The students have been hitting the streets ever since results of entrance tests for the Non Technical Popular Category were declared by the Railway Recruitment Board They have been livid that the RRB was far from completing selection process for 30000 vacancies nearly three years after advertising the posts Moreover there have been goof ups like candidates with more than one roll number Introducing an extra screening test for Group D has also been resented by the candidates who say the jobs are not of a highly skilled nature and hence a complex selection process was unnecessary The Railway Board recently put on hold the selection process and set up a high powered committee inviting suggestions from the aggrieved students PTI NAC JRC JRC

Puducherry Nov 28 PTI Normal life in the union territory of Puducherry remained paralysed for the second successive day on Sunday with heavy rainfall continuing Official sources said that around 8 cm rainfall was registered during the last 48 hours ending 830 AM Sunday Low-lying areas and main thoroughfares and also a good number of residential areas bore the brunt of the heavy rain Puducherry has been reeling under the incessant showers since last nearly two weeks The territorial government has sought an interim relief of Rs 300 crore from the Centre as flood relief Chief Minister N Rangasamy announced last week a relief of Rs 5000 to each of the families coming under public distribution system and holding either red colour below poverty line category or yellow colour cards With water released from catchment areas in neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu rivers here were in a spate PTI Cor SS SS

Srinagar Nov 19 PTI Normal life was affected in the Kashmir valley on Friday due to a strike called by the Hurriyat Conference to express solidarity with the families of the civilians killed in the Hyderpora encounter earlier this week officials saidMost of the shops fuel stations and other business establishments in Srinagar were shut the officials saidPublic transport was largely off the roads but private cars and auto rickshaws were seen plying in some areas of the city they saidThe officials said similar reports of the strike being observed were received from other areas of the valleyThe effect of the strike was accentuated by the public holiday on account of Gurupurab they addedThe Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had given the strike callHurriyat Conference regrets that as most peoples leadership and political activists are either injails or under house detention to protest such inhumanity and in solidarity with the devastated families of the slain civilians and their demand that the dead bodies of their loved ones be returned to them for burial people should observe a shut down on Friday 19th November on their own the Hurriyat said in a statement hereThe bodies of the two civilians Altaf Bhat and Mudasir Gul killed during Mondays encounter in Hyderpora area of the city were exhumed at Handwara late on Thursday and were handed over to the families The bodies were buried here during the night after their last rites were performed by the families PTI SSB DV DV

Puducherry Nov 18 PTI Normal life was hit in Puducherry on Thursday due to incessant rains since last night The low pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal has resulted in rains over parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puduchery since Wednesday Education Minister A Namassivayam announced a holiday for all schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karaikal on Thursday in view of the heavy rains Most of the thoroughfares in Puducherry were waterlogged as a result of the heavy downpour since Wednesday night affecting traffic movement PTI CORR SS SS