A State-wide bandh called on Friday to protest against the Supreme Court order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, evoked a mixed response across Karnataka.
While cities such as Bengaluru and Mysuru came to a standstill with paralysis of the public transport and Mandya district witnessed protests, life was normal in Raichur, Bidar and Mangaluru.
The poor response to the bandh call in Bidar is viewed as a reaction to little concern shown towards issues concerning the north and Hyderabad Karnataka regions.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to Twitter to appeal for peace. “We should not destroy our own property to protest the injustice meted out to us. Let the bandh proceed peacefully,” he said.
During a review of security arrangements with Home Minister G. Parameshwara and the brass of the State police, Mr. Siddaramaiah said 10 companies of Central forces, two each from the neighbouring Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, and one from Maharashtra were summoned to manage law and order.
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6 pm: As the bandh was largely peaceful and total in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah requests Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of Chief Minsters of Cauvery basin States to resolve the impasse “as unrest in Karnataka will create a serious impact on the economy.”
“I invite attention to a precedent of December 1995 where under similar circumstances of deficit flows, the Supreme Court by an order dated December 28, 1995, requested the Prime Minister to resolve the issue of implementation of the Court order, which was then duly done to the satisfaction of all parties,” the Chief Minister said in a letter, which was the third in less than a month, to Mr. Modi. >Read more.
4.30 p.m.: Our correspondents Rishikesh Bahadur Desai from Bidar and Kumar Buradikatti from Raichur report that the Karnataka bandh call made little impact in Bidar and Raichur. Offices, educational institutions and banks functioned normally in Baidar amid three protests in the city in support of the bandh. Except for a few symbolic protests, normal life was not affected in Raichur district.
The poor response to the bandh call in Bidar is viewed as a reaction to little concern shown towards issues concerning the North and Hyderabad Karnataka regions.
4 pm: S.P. Saravanan reports from Salem: Except for a few pickup vehicles that transport villagers across the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border at Palar in Kolathur, movement of commercial and other vehicles has come to a standstill.
Even TNSTC buses, which were plying till Palar border for the last four days, have been stopped at Mettur. Karnataka Police personnel were present at their check post while the Salem district police maintained a vigil at a check post in Kolathur.
03.30 pm: Thousands of protesters have gathered at Attibele checkpost on the Bangalore-Hosur border. Vehicles are being stopped from entering Karnataka border by the Tamil Nadu police. A line of vehicles can be seen parked on the national highway, including KSRTC buses. The barricades were put up at 5 am itself. Only two-wheelers are being allowed to enter Karnataka. Others have been asked to wait till 6 p.m. With a large police presence at the border, protests have been peaceful.
Protesters gather at the Attibele Gate near the Bangalore-Hosur border. Photo: Sampath Kumar G P 03.15 pm: A 30 year-old-man stabbed himself with a sharp weapon during a protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru. He was shifted to a nearby hospital.
03.05 pm: Karnataka bandh remained incident free in Hosur at the inter-state border, except for the intermittent protests by Kannada outfits at the Athibelli gateway overlooking Tamil Nadu border. > More
03.00 pm: RAF personnel have been deployed to prevent any untoward incident on Mysuru Road
02.45 pm: Youngsters make the most of the bandh. In many areas, groups were seen playing a game of cricket.
Youngsters playing cricket in Muneshwara layout. Photo: Sudhakara Jain 02.30 pm: Kannada film industry turned up in full strength for a protest demonstration near the office of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce near Shivananda Circle, Bengaluru. > More
Members of the Kannada film industry during a protest demonstration near the office of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce in Shivananda Circle, Bengaluru. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy 02.15 pm: From Town Hall junction to Kengeri junction on Mysuru Road, protesters are not allowing vehicles to pass. Every half-a-kilometre, a huge gathering of protesters has blocked the road.
Protesters block Mysuru Road. Vehicles are not being allowed to pass from Town Hall junction to Kengeri junction. Photo: Murali Kumar 02.00 pm: The bandh has been peaceful in Hosur so far. No incidents have been reported. However, the border is totally shut and cordoned off by respective State police. Around 15 Kannada outfits have protested at the border since morning.
01.45 pm: Farmers tried to storm into KRS Dam site, near Mandya. They were prevented by the police. Agitators were lathi-charged. The police personnel also lobbed tear-gas shells to disperse the crowd.
01.35 pm: A bit of tension at Ecospace. A group of activists attempted to barge in. Police said employees of two call centres at the park had finished their shift around noon. However, activists assumed the offices was working. They were stopped at the gates by security as well as police. The protesters later dispersed.
01.30 pm: K.S. Eshwarappa, Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council, stresses on the need to institute a committee of experts to suggest Cauvery water sharing measures during distress conditions. > More
01. 00 pm: Even in Belagavi district, bus services are operating as usual. The bandh call has so far received a lukewarm response.
12.45 pm: Life goes on normally in Bijapur district, despite the bandh call. All business establishments, schools and colleges were open, buses, both government and private, were plying. However, KSRTC DC has asked officials to stop operation of long distance buses after 12 pm.
12.30 pm: Mysuru Road has been completely blocked by protesters near Bengaluru University Campus gate.
12.20 pm: Vehicular movement along Shivamogga-Bhadravathi stretch on National Highway-206 has been completely paralysed, with protesters blocking the road by placing boulders near Kadadakatte and Malavagoppa.
12.15 pm: Belagavi Bar Association members boycott court.
12.15 pm: An unidentified man was found dead at the suburban bus stand in Mysuru on Friday. The police recovered a bus ticket from Bengaluru to Mysuru and some tablets. > More
12.00 pm: Tyres were burnts in different parts of the city as a mark of protest. Incidents were reported from Raghavendra Circle, TC Palya Main Road, Ramamurti Nagar, Jaragenahalli on Kanakapura Road, Budigere Cross and Seshadripuram 2nd Main Road, in Bengaluru.
Protesters set afire tyres in Raghavendra Circle, TC Palya Main Road, Ramamurti Nagar, Bengaluru. Photo: Sudhakara Jain 11.45 am: In Belagavi, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike workers stopped a Tamil Nadu-registration truck.
11.15 am: At the BIAL airport hundereds of passengers are stranded as there are no taxis availbale. The airport authorities have arranged extra seating. A few protestors gathered at the airport in the morning, but no incident was reported. > More
People waiting at the BIAL airport, Devanahalli, Bengaluru. Photo: Sampath Kumar G P 11:00 am:
10:45 am: The State-wide bandh over the issue of sharing Cauvery river water has evoked a surprising response in Shivamogga. The buses and auto rickshaws are off the road. The shops and commercial establishments are closed. Nava Karnataka Nirmana Vedike staged a demonstration at the premises of DVS Samsthe expressing their displeasure against the management for conducting high school and PUC classes. Owing to the protest the management declared holiday.
10:30 am:
At Townhall in Bengaluru. Photo: Sreenivasa Moorthy 10:15 am:
Shirtless protest at Kyathanahalli in Mandya district Photo. MT Shivakumar 10:00 am: The state-wide bandh call given by pro-Kannada groups received an impressive response in Hassan on Friday morning. There was no movement of public transport and private vehicles were also hardly seen on the roads. As the district administration had declared a holiday for schools and colleges, there were no school buses or vans on the roads.
09: 45 am: There has been little or no impact on Mangaluru and Dakshina Kannada . Though it was a known earlier that bandh would not have little impact in this region, the Deputy Commissioner on Thursday evening declared holiday for educational institutions. This has put hundreds of students, particularly in government institutions, into a quandary as they came all the way from home to schools unaware of the holiday. Public transport, including private and KSRTC buses are operating normally.
Photo: Anil Kumar Sastry 09:15 am: As Cauvery water wars hits Karnataka, Bengaluru's public transport comes to a standstill on Friday morning.
All the BMTC buses remain parked at the Banashankari bus depot in Bengaluru. Photo. Bhagya Prakash 09:00 am:
08:45 am: Mysuru woke up to an eerie silence with no public transport in sight on the road. The otherwise busy railway station and bus stand were almost empty, with just a few commuters and policemen around. > Read more on the status of bandh in Mysuru.
08: 20 am:
Mysuru City bus stand look deserted on early Friday morning. Photo. M.A.Sriram 07:40 am: Residents of Belagavi and other towns in the district, woke up on a confused note today, wanting to know if the State government or the district administration had declared a holiday on account of the 'Karnataka bandh'. > More
Bengaluru: Protest marches and deserted streets are expected in Bengaluru on Friday when the State observes the bandh.
Meanwhile, Cauvery basin districts have been seeing continued protests since Monday when the court direction was issued. The protests are expected to intensify on Friday. To ensure the bandh remains peaceful in the State capital, the Bengaluru police have made elaborate arrangements. Over 3,551 police personnel, 1,000 Home Guards, apart from 36 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police, 30 platoons of the City Armed Reserve, one company of the Rapid Action Force, a commando vehicle and a water jet truck will be deployed, said Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh on Thursday.
Those who have planned immersion of Ganesh idols will be allowed to do so, said the police.
For the third day, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation suspended services along 512 routes passing through Mandya district. Cumulatively, the corporation has incurred a loss of over Rs. 1.8 crore in the past three days.
Mysuru: With the State-wide bandh call given by Kannada organisations receiving widespread support, life is expected to be crippled in Mysuru on Friday.
While Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep has declared a holiday for schools and colleges, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is unlikely to operate buses during the dawn-to-dusk bandh called over the release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu.
Road transport is likely to be paralysed, with KSRTC buses, autorickshaws and taxis expected to stay off the road. Hotels, shops and commercial establishments are also expected to down their shutters. Extending support to the bandh, the Mysuru Industries’ Association has called upon industrialists and service establishments to declare a compensatory holiday on Friday and make up by working during the next weekly holiday.
Raichur: Karnataka Bandh call failed to make any impact in Raichur district. Except a few sporadic incidents of symbolic protests and demonstrations by pro-Kannada outfits, it was business as usual in the district.
Kalaburagi: The band call has little affect on life in Kalaburagi city and other parts of the district. Except buses goinf off the road, other modes of transport including autorickshaws, private taxies, jeeps and maxicabs are operational. The NEKRTC suspended its mofussil and city services as a precautionary measure.
Commercial establishments, hotels, shops remained open. A few pro-Kannada organisations held protests in the city.
Mangaluru: The Dakshina Kannada district administration has declared a holiday for schools on Friday in view of the Karnataka bandh. Though no organisation has declared support for the shutdown, a few protests have been planned.
Public transport services are expected to operate without any hindrance, and normal life is unlikely to be affected.
Udupi: The bandh call is unlikely to have much of an impact on life here.
City buses managed by the private sector will be plying as usual, said K. Suresh Nayak, President of Udupi Private City Bus Owners Association and Secretary of the Canara Bus Operators Association.
However, all schools and colleges will remain closed in the district as a holiday had been declared for them.
While life is expected to go on as usual, the district unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be taking out a procession from Jodu Katte to Clock Tower.
Hassan: Hassan Deputy Commissioner V. Chaitra has declared holiday for school and colleges on Friday in view of the Statewide bandh call. Hassan police have made elaborate arrangements to avoid untoward incidents on Friday. The JD(S) and BJP have extended support to the bandh call.
Ballari: In view of the Karnataka bandh, Deputy Commissioner Ramaprasath, as a precautionary measure, has declared holiday for all schools and Pre-University colleges in the district on Friday.
