Shimla: District administration is all braced up to tackle the ‘Hartal’ call given by CPI (M) and a general strike announced by BJP in protest against the petro price hike, even as many private schools have declared Monday a holiday and grocery stores have warned about milk supplies getting affected.
When asked about the administrations preparedness, JS Rana, deputy commissioner Shimla said, “We are geared to face the situation and patrolling at sensitive points has already been started.â€
The protest is being organized to force the central government to withdraw the increase in petroleum product prices.
Though, Rakesh Singha, general secretary CPI (M) while announcing the Hartal call had declared that “essential services like supply of water, milk, electricity, hospital and emergency services would not be disrupted,†but at the same time the party has asked people to avoid travelling and parents not to send children to school so as not be put to inconvenience.
Taking cue from the warning many schools including St Edwards, Loreto Tara Hall have already declared Monday to be a holiday.
Announcing the unscheduled holiday over phone, a teacher in one of them said, “a holiday was declared to avoid exposing small children to danger.â€
During a strike, two months ago, bus operators and taxi operators had asked all children including small ones to de-board on roads, as traffic had been brought to a halt by the strikers by deflating tires of many vehicles at several places, she said.
Grocery store owner, P Chadda warned “the wholesale supplier has refused to supply milk on Monday.
Two months ago, in a strike, the supplier suffered huge losses as truck loads of milk turned sour because they could not be delivered to retail points, he explained.
Rana responds, “last time we were caught unaware. No untoward incident would be allowed and efforts would be made to keep the traffic open.â€
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
