17/6,000 = 0.28 per cent.

Writer’s Buildings achieved a record attendance low as only 17 out of around 6,000 employees attended office on Monday braving the bandh called by the Left and other parties to protest fuel price hike.

“Altogether 17 employees, including the chief secretary Ardhendu Sen and myself, have reported for work today,” said home secretary Samar Ghosh at the state secretariat.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — who cannot be called an employee — was the 18th odd man out at Writers’ as he turned up for a full day’s work despite the bandh being termed an “unprecedented success” by his party secretary Prakash Karat.

Bhattacharjee, who has serious reservations about the bandh culture in Bengal, will not be amused to learn that Monday’s attendance figure at Writers’ was quite unprecedented. It is believed that the chief minister had opposed the party’s decision to call a bandh just eight days after the state faced a near shutdown thanks to a Citu-sponsored transport strike on the same issue.

“An attendance percentage of 0.28 is almost 0….Undoubtedly, this is the lowest ever turnout at Writers’ on a week day,” said Ananta Banerjee, the general secretary of the Left-affiliated State Co-ordination Committee.

The headcount stood in sharp contrast to the “near 25 per cent” attendance at the civic body’s offices across the city. Of the 33,000-odd civic employees, around 8,000 registered their presence. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, of the Trinamul Congress, also attended office on Monday.

Writers’ was deserted despite a July 2 circular issued by the chief secretary asking all staff members to attend office on bandh day and ensuring that the offices were open. On Monday, home secretary Ghosh said those who had not turned up would be required to apply for a day’s casual leave.

“Nobody has ever had to apply for casual leave for absence on a Left-supported bandh day. Besides, only the gates of the main block leading to the chief minister’s office remain open. How can you expect people to turn up when the gates are locked?” demanded an employee of the finance department.

Subesh Das, principal secretary to the chief minister, was one of the victims of the locked gates. Denied access to the corridor leading to his office, he was forced to take an alternative route to Bhattacharjee’s office.

Though the liftman who operates the VIP lift was not around, Bhattacharjee did not have to take the stairs — like on an earlier bandh — when he turned up at 11.05am. “Now, if the liftman is missing, one of our officers operates the lift,” said a Calcutta Police official overseeing the chief minister’s security at Writers’.

In two phases — between 11.10am and 1.27pm, then 4.07pm and 5.58pm — the chief minister was busy with paperwork, that included responding to letters sent by Union ministers to the chief minister’s office and signing some pending files.

Less than 10km away from Writers’, the one eyeing his chair remained closeted in her Kalighat residence with aides from the railways, port and the newly-formed civic body.

“We did not want to oppose the bandh as it would have resulted in bloodshed….While they were not working, we used the day productively by drawing up plans for the city, the railways and the port,” announced Mamata Banerjee.