A strike called by India's opposition parties in protest against a sharp increase in petrol prices has disrupted normal life in parts of the country.
Last week state-run oil firms raised petrol prices by more than 11% or 7.54 rupees (13 US cents) a litre, the steepest single increase in a decade.
The increase in fuel prices is likely to fuel inflation.
The oil firms said they were forced to increase prices because the falling rupee had made imports costlier.
Autorickshaws have gone off the roads in the capital, Delhi, and supporters of the strike have blocked roads in the eastern city of Calcutta.
Reports say protesters have also damaged public buses in the southern Karnataka state, and stopped trains in northern Uttar Pradesh.
The strike is likely to affect public transport and attendance in government offices, factories and educational institutions.
"It will be a total shutdown across the country. It will be the biggest democratic protest the country has seen in a long time," Prakash Javadekar, spokesman of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Wednesday.
Opposition parties have demanded that the price increase should be rolled back.
In 2010, the government allowed state-run oil firms to fix the price of petrol but it continues to control the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas to protect the poor and to keep a check on inflation.
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