Chandigarh, Dec 7 (IANS) The Punjab shutdown call given by radical Sikh organisations to protest against Saturday’s violence in Ludhiana evoked a mixed response in the state Monday.
Shops in most cities and towns across the state remained closed Monday and educational institutions at most places also remained shut or saw low attendance.

However, movement of vehicles on roads in cities and towns and highways remained normal. Railway traffic on the busy Amritsar-Ludhiana-Ambala section was also not affected till the afternoon.

Punjab police and paramilitary forces remained on high alert, especially in the industrial city of Ludhiana, 110 km from here.

Ludhiana continued to be under curfew for the third day Monday with heavy presence of security forces.

Radical Sikh organisations led by Damdami Taksal and Sant Samaj, among others, had called for a Punjab shutdown Monday.

This followed violent incidents in Ludhiana on Friday and Saturday which left one person dead and several injured.

Sikh organisations had clashed with the police Saturday while trying to disrupt a religious conference of controversial sect leader Ashutosh Maharaj of the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan.

Panjab University also postponed its examinations scheduled Monday at Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh centres in view of the shutdown and curfew in Ludhiana.

Educational institutions, including the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), in Ludhiana were ordered closed by the local administration.

Trains left from Amritsar station normally Monday morning and passed through Ludhiana, the centre-point of trouble over the last three days.