The deserted Nano plant in Singur. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

June 5: The showpiece of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s industry drive was paralysed for the first time today, thanks to the bandh called by the chief minister’s party and its partners.

Although almost half of the 4,000 workers live on the Tata Motors small-car unit site in Singur, about 45km from Calcutta, not one showed up for work.

The bad weather was said to be an additional reason that discouraged the workers from stepping out of their quarters.

Balai Sapui, the CPM’s Hooghly district secretariat member, said this was the first shutdown at the plant, where Tata Motors will build its Rs 1-lakh Nano.

Work began at the site in February 2007. On August 8, CPM labour arm Citu brought the state to a standstill to press for jobs and social security for workers in the unorganised sector, but the 350-odd hands at Singur worked through the all-India bandh.

During two bandhs in February and April this year — one called by the Forward Bloc and the other by the Trinamul Congress — work went on unhindered.

The Citu, however, had an explanation for the absence of workers at the site today as opposed to August 8 last year: the labourers had stayed away from work “spontaneously”.

“Today’s strike was called to protest the hike in fuel prices which affects everybody, directly and indirectly. So, the labourers did not join work, spontaneously supporting the bandh,” said Debakar Das, convener of Citu-affiliated Paschimbanga Nirmankarmi Union (Singur-Tata project).

“Don’t confuse today’s bandh with that of August 8 last year. That strike was called in support of workers in the unorganised sector. The Tata project had nothing to do with the all-India strike and that is why we had asked its workers to report for work. Today’s issue is different,” Das said.

He said the workers would not be around tomorrow, too, in support of Mamata Banerjee’s bandh on the same issue. “The workers here do not care who calls the bandh; it’s the issue that matters,” he said.

“We did not apply force to impose the bandh, but not a single worker turned up,” said Sapui, the CPM Hooghly district secretariat member.

Kali Ghosh, Citu state secretary, too, claimed in Calcutta that the labourers had skipped work on their own. “The workers of the small-car plant cannot escape the chain effect of the oil price hike. From tomorrow, they will have to bear the brunt while shopping for essential commodities. So, we didn’t have to impose the strike on them,” he said.

The Tata Motors spokesperson declined comment.

Durgapur violence

Bandh supporters assaulted Subrata Sarkar, an assistant general manager in the Durgapur steel plant, when he tried to enter the factory. They also beat up Coke Oven employee Ranjit Majumdar. He is in hospital with head injuries.