Normal life in Kolkata as well as in other parts of West Bengal was affected on Friday as the Trinamool Congress (TC) stuck to its decision to enforce a dawn-to-dusk statewide bandh defying a Calcutta high court order to call it off.
As many as 1,710 TC activists, including six party MLAs, were arrested from different parts of the state for enforcing the bandh by blocking rail and road traffic, Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Chayan Mukherjee said.
TC chief Mamata Banerjee, who vigorously campaigned in support of the bandh till late Thursday evening, however, was confined to her house at Kalighat in south Kolkata.
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Three bombs were hurled at a TC rally in the Hazra area of south Kolkata, close to Mamata Banerjee's residence, on Friday morning. But no one was injured in the incident. No untoward incident, however, was reported from the districts till noon, police said.
Traffic on the city roads was thin but state transport buses and trams were plying though with fewer passengers. Most of the shops and establishments as well as educational institutions were closed.
The Calcutta high court, in an unprecedented order on November 30, had declared the bandh called by the TC illegal and unconstitutional and had asked the party to call it off.