In the capital Kolkata, roads were deserted with private offices and schools closed and only a skeletal public service available. Besides, train and ferry services were disrupted as strikers picketed railway lines and stations.

Sporadic clashes were reported, but police said no one was injured.

Hundreds of police personnel guarded the railway stations and key government offices here as protesters took out processions in support of the strike.

Though passengers found it difficult to reach the airport, flights operated normally.

Most IT offices in the city's electronic complex were open and functioned normally, said an official. "The IT sector has been included in the essential category and exempted from the purview of the strike," he said.

West Bengal police chief Shyamal Dutta said additional paramilitary and police forces were deployed in Kolkata and other districts of the state to maintain law and order.

He said the strike, the third in 16 days, was more effective outside the capital.

The Trinamool Congress had gone ahead with the strike call despite a Calcutta High Court order to withdraw it.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led government had issued a circular asking its employees to report for work, or get their salaries cut, as per the directives of the court.

However, attendance at government offices was thin.

--Indo-Asian News Service