Hyderabad:The verve with which the Bharat Bandh was called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday has ended up in partial success with many states functioning normally like any other day. Except in northern states like Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, and parts of western Uttar Pradesh where national highways, state highways, and link roads have been badly affected, bringing road traffic to a grinding halt and Railway stations turning into dharna sites, there has been moderate or little impact on the rest of the country.
In western states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Rajasthan, the Bandh called by the farmers failed to have any substantial impact. In fact, commercial establishments and local transport have been operating as usual in the commercial capital of the country — Mumbai — on Monday and the city police even did not deploy an extra security force at key junctions and roads. In Goa, the Bandh failed to evoke any response as all services, including public transport, banks, trains and commercial establishments were operating normally in the coastal state, a senior police official said. Similarly in Gujarat, the Bandh received little response till noon with markets and Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) continued to function like any normal day. Several leaders, including the Congress president in Morbi, appealed to farmers to join the bandh. Traders from the marketing yard were approached in-person to join the bandh, although police detained all the leaders. In Junagadh, Kisan Morcha leaders have given a memorandum to the DM. Farmers in Surat who have been protesting were detained by the police. No major incident of any traffic disturbance on road or rail has been reported yet till 12.30 pm in the state.