Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee strides into Writers’ Buildings during the Left trade union-sponsored bandh on Thursday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Who came to work on bandh day? Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a precious few members of his core team and many in his blue-eyed sector.

The work and no-work zones in Bhattacharjee’s Bengal were clearly demarcated — a sleepy Writers’ versus a spirited Sector V.

The hustle-bustle in the work zone of the state’s IT hub started at 5.15 am, a full hour before sunrise on Thursday.

“We have another 45 minutes to get everybody to office,” mumbled a TCS official, waiting anxiously for a batch of buses with techies to arrive before bandh hour.

Soon, some buses, with some autorickshaws thrown in for good measure, trundled in, but the numbers entering the city office of the country’s biggest IT company were not encouraging.

“I picked up only three employees from Bagha Jatin. On other days, the number is 35,” said the driver of a bus heading straight for a tea stall, drawing a huge footfall on a chilly December morning.

Despite police bandobast in Sector V, the shutters were downed in a hurry and the autorickshaw drivers switched off their engines as the clock struck 6. “Bandh shuru hoye gechhe (The bandh has begun),” shouted someone.

The early hours of hectic activity over, the man in charge of logistics outside Wipro — the biggest BPO outfit in the city with over 2,500 employees — could afford a smile. “Our last pick-up car arrived before 5.15 am. Everybody is in,” he announced.

But attendance in the software sector was poor. Despite the promise of escort service from police, only a handful of techies involved in mission critical projects logged in at TCS, CTS, IBM and Wipro’s infotech services division.

“We were told not to take chances on a bandh day… It has been decided that we will work on Saturday and so I did not even try to reach office,” said an IBM employee.

His counterparts in the BPO sector did not have that option, with some companies making arrangements for night accommodation.

R. Singh, working with a call centre in Infinity building, reported for work early on Wednesday morning. He will not go back home till Friday afternoon. “The shift supposed to take over from us could not make it to office. So, we will have to do an extra shift,” Singh said.

It is for people like Singh that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government was saved the bandh blushes.

“There was a drop in attendance but work did not suffer. Attendance at call centres was around 90 per cent, while it was around 50 per cent in software companies,” said IT secretary Sidharth, happy with the “normal conduct” of business in the state’s IT hub.