New Delhi, Aug 20: Around 50 people were on Wednesday injured in group clashes during an industrial strike called by Left trade unions which brought West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura to a halt and partially hit several eastern states but life in rest of the country remained largely unaffected.

With the ruling Left Front governments backing the day- long stir called to protest against surging inflation and the Centre's "anti-people" economic policies, the shut down in West Bengal and Tripura was complete.

While life was paralysed in Kerala, air services remained unaffected in the state.

Normal life was hit in parts of Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Meghalaya and Manipur with markets, business establishments and banks remaining closed in many areas there.

In Coochbehar in West Bengal, around 50 people were injured in clashes between CPI (M) and Trinamool Congress activists in four places when Left supporters attempted to enforce the shut down, police sources said. A police force has been rushed to the troubled area, they said.

Flights to Kolkata were cancelled due to the strike by airport employees. The strikers did not spare the vital IT sector in Salt Lake in the city.

Inspector General (Law and Order), Raj Kanojia told PTI in Kolkata that no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state but train services were disrupted with protesters squatting on the rail track at several places.

Airports Authority of India officials said in New Delhi that going by the number of flights across the country, the schedules were running "almost normally".

Besides flights to Kolkata, some others to Mumbai, Pune and Guwahati were also cancelled because of the strike, they said.