Kolkata: Three buses were torched and several other vehicles damaged as the opposition Trinamool Congress-backed autorickshaw operators went on a rampage today at Park Circus in South Kolkata spreading panic among school children and commuters.
A large contingent of police were present, but could do little as the auto operators, protesting against the ban by the Calcutta High Court on the polluting two-stroke three-wheelers from January 1,indulged in violence.
Hoodlums not only damaged and set ablaze the buses, but also snatched cash and valuables from passengers and conductors of the buses, eyewitnesses said.
The police said that no one has been arrested as yet.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee who sat on a night-long dharna near West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's Palm Avenue residence withdrew it early this morning.
"Amra badla nebo (We will take revenge)," Banerjee repeatedly said as she drove off at 4:00 am headed for Nandigram, where an assembly bypoll is scheduled on January 5.
The Trinamool Congress-backed Auto Bachao Committee and the Progressive Taximen's Union has called a 12-hour strike by auto and taxi operators from 6.00 am in the metropolis today.
Activists of the unions were out on the streets since early morning to enforce the strike, police sources said.
