A sudden strike occurrence or a ruckus created by the mob on the roads once in a while can prove out to be a good thing, as it sends a breeze of relief that maybe today we could get a day off from office, and can enjoy a surprise holiday at our homes.
Sadly, that isn’t the case in my city, Kolkata. Compared to any other state of our country, the inhabitants of Kolkata suffer the most from strike occurrences. And it has been an issue which has remained consistent for many years, and still shows no signs of being at rest.
From transport strike to union strike to college strike to even a complete Bengal Band, it won’t be wrong at all to say that Kolkata can be considered to be on the top of the charts in terms of being a victim of the strikes.
It’s nice if someone takes an action for a good cause, but the reality is something else. It’s like every other individual is eager to show his leadership or I should say “NETAGIRI” not for the good of people, but to show-off their own political influence. The most weird thing is that many political parties, especially the opposition, play a very vital role in lighting the fire that results in street ruckus, breaking the taxis, private cars, sometimes even shops, and a whole lot. It seems like calling a strike is like a casual activity “I don’t feel like working today let’s call a strike”.
On most occasions, these strikes are led by the parties which are not in power. To get into the eyes of the public, they take up such an initiative against the government. But in doing so, they fail to understand how much trouble they cause to the people instead of helping them.
Not only does this effects’ the business of various small shops, but it also effects’ the working person’s life, mostly the middle class.
More than 80% of people in Bengal earn their daily bread by working in private companies which can consider a day off once, but not always, especially when strikes happen every third day. Many people with a job fail to reach their respective work places on time due to the ruckus, for which they get a late marking. If the situation is worse, they don’t even make it to work and loose a Casual leave, which would have come in handy at some other important time.
Strikes occurrences could be supported if it were for a good cause which would solve problems and be of any help to the citizens. But if called unnecessarily, it does nothing else but makes day to day life miserable.
Note: This post is a part of our #MyCityMyStory series. To check out more posts from this series, please click here.
