Bandh supporters smashed windshields of buses, disrupted trains and damaged police vehicles at several locations in the city but created little impact.

The nationwide strike on Wednesday was called by 17 Left parties to protest the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR), privatisation of PSUs and the hike in prices of essential commodities.

A bus carrying some arrested bandh supporters was stopped by another group of supporters at the Rashbehari Avenue-SP Mukherjee Road crossing on Wednesday morning, a police officer said. Some of the supporters on the road hit the windshield of the private bus.

The bandh supporters also hit the windscreen of an air-conditioned government bus.

The bus carrying bandh supporters managed to reach Lalbazar but the AC bus had to be stopped there and the passengers stepped out. “The AC bus was taken to Tollygunge and parked outside the police station,” said the officer.

The sporadic violence hardly had any effect on life. Buses ran across the city and Metro service remained uninterrupted, although fewer number of people stepped out of their homes.

A bus with a smashed window on Rashbehari Avenue

Students with SFI flags outside Jadavpur University

At least two students climbed atop two buses and waved flags while shouting slogans. The students left after about 30 minutes.

Ninety people were arrested from across the city on Wednesday for bandh-related violence and trying to stop traffic on road, a senior police officer said.

Suburban train services were also held up in several places as supporters squatted on the tracks or in front of trains. Forty-nine local trains were cancelled and six trains diverted in the Howrah division of Eastern Railway, a railway official said. Trains were also stopped at Barrackpore, Belghoria, Agarpara, Ichhapur, Shyamnagar, Sodepur, Titagarh, New Barrackpore and Hridaypur.

“Bandh supporters blocked tracks in Barasat, Birati and Dum Dum Cantonment in the Sealdah division and Talpur, Serampore, Chandernagore and Hind Motor in the Howrah division,” added the official.

Citu state secretary and former labour minister Anadi Sahu said the all-India strike was a “complete success” in Bengal.

Most shops and businesses were open but in some areas bandh supporters tried to forcibly shut shops, the police said.

Flights in and out of the city operated as usual. Additional buses were deployed outside the airport by the transport department for the convenience of passengers. The airport authorities had arranged for a bus to ferry passengers till Gate No. 1 on VIP Road, where they could get more buses, officials said.

Bandh supporters at Jadavpur used myriad ways to block the road. Some burnt tyres on the road and some, armed with SFI flags, squatted on the road in front of Jadavpur University.

“They shouted slogans and played cricket and carom on the road. A long queue of vehicles had formed on both flanks of Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick Road, in front of Gate No. 4 of Jadavpur University that leads to the arts faculty building,” a resident of the neighbourhood said.

A few bandh supporters boarded a government bus, waved flags and raised slogans in support of the strike, the resident said.