Saturday was a routine day in most parts of north Karnataka. Traffic and business remained unaffected by the bandh called over the Mekedatu project, proposed mainly to quench the southern districts with Cauvery water.
If any, a few small groups made one or two isolated demonstrations in these districts.
In Vijayapura, traffic moved at a snail’s pace, the markets were crowded with people, and business establishments did brisk week-end business, while the bus stand and railway station had their regular share of visitors.
About a dozen members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike gathered at M.G. Circle and burnt an effigy of Tamil Nadu.
Irrigation and agriculture activists of Vijayapura district had earlier declared that they would not be part of the bandh. They said they were upset by the apathy and discriminatory attitude of leaders of central and southern districts towards the much-needed irrigation projects in the north Karnataka region.
Panchappa Kalburgi, veteran irrigation activist and president of the Bhima Nadi Neeru Horata Samiti, said he was with the bandh in spirit. However, he said, “Whenever any Cauvery water issue crops up, the people of central and southern districts call for Karnataka bandh and we have joined in for many years. How long should this continue when they have never reciprocated for our issues?”
Mr. Kalburgi went on to say, “They only worry about the Cauvery but have no concern for the Krishna water. Have they ever tried to understand the water problems of our region, such as the Upper Krishna Project?”
He also made it clear that he did not support stray demands for separate statehood for the region. If the other two regions do not want the State to be split, they should change their mindset towards north Karnataka, he added.
Belagavi city and district saw a lukewarm response to the bandh and went about their routine without a hitch.
Police officials declared early in the morning that there was no sign of a bandh.
“Nobody from Bengaluru asked for our support,” said Basavaraj Mallai, president of the Belagavi district Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (Kodihalli Chandrashekhar faction).
Besides, the people of northern Karnataka districts were hurt that people in Bengaluru and the southern parts had not been sympathetic towards this region's problems.
Sidgouda Kalgouda Modagi, State general secretary of the Bharat Krishik Samaj, said many developmental projects had been pending for a long time, such as the the Upper Krishna basin and the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project.
It was just another day in Kalaburagi and Yadgir districts as its people ignored the call for a state-wide bandh.
Government offices, banks and private enterprises functioned normally. Public and private transport plied normally. The only exception was the symbolic protest by a few pro-Karnataka organisations.
In Raichur , offices, educational institutions, banks, business establishments, shops and public and private transport systems operated as usual. A handful of activists associated with the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike demonstrated in the city.
Life in Bidar district was normal. Shops, educational institutions, offices and shops were open; buses, autorickshaws and private vehicles plied.
The vegetable market in the old city, the grain market in Gandhi Gunj and the traditional Shah Gunj market did normal business.
Earlier in the day members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Jai Karnataka, Kannadigara Balaga and other organisations took out a rally and shouted slogans against the Tamil Nadu government, which has opposed the Mekedatu project.
(Reporting by Firoz Rozindar, Vijaykumar Patil, T.V.Sivanandan, Kumar Buradikatti & Rishikesh Bahadur Desai)
