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Shiv Kumar in Bombay
A flash strike by public transport employees in Bombay sparked violence on Monday after angry commuters stoned buses and beat up a few employees who reported for work, police said.
Incidents of stone-throwing were reported from various parts of the city after employees of the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking struck work in the morning to attend a rally of trade unions later in the day.
BEST officials said only 134 conductors and 97 drivers of the undertaking's 9,000 employees reported for work. BEST initially plied just 38 buses but even these were withdrawn after violence erupted.
Police said that security has been beefed up at bus depots and offices of the Bombay Municipal Corporation, which runs the BEST, after the incidents.
Civic officials told IANS that the unions had not called a strike as the Bombay high court had barred them from doing so. Union leaders told BMC officials that the transport workers had stayed away from work on their own to participate in a rally called by the trade unions.
Indo-Asian News Service
EARLIER REPORT: Buses go off the roads in Bombay
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