A bandh called to protest the perceived injustice to Karnataka by the Mahadayi water disputes tribunal’s interim order had varying impact across the State.
It evoked good response in Mysuru, with shops and business establishments remaining closed and KSRTC buses keeping off the roads. However, autorickshaws and private buses operated as usual. Police personnel were deployed across the city to monitor the situation and prevent any untoward incidents.
Bandh in the Central Business District here comprising the commercial hubs – D. Devaraja Urs Road, Sayyaji Rao Road, Ashoka Road and Shivarampet – was almost total with shops closing down their shutters. Shops and business establishments remained closed even in residential areas. But hotels and restaurants functioned as usual with its staff extending moral support to the bandh by wearing black ribbons on their shoulders.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) operated a few trips in the morning but subsequently withdrew its operations. The sub-urban and city bus-stand were wearing a deserted look. Some passengers were stranded and were in search of alternative transportation arrangements. Train services were normal but passengers were few. Sources in the railways said trains are running as scheduled with no disruption in services.
Though the district administration had not declared holiday for schools and colleges, private institutions remained closed while the government schools and colleges functioned. Scenes of children from private schools returning from their schools were common since there was no prior information to them on the closure.
All government offices functioned but there were hardly any visitors. People coming to the public offices from rural areas for work stayed indoors with no bus services. Almost all petrol pumps remained closed besides the cinema halls while some had put up boards saying that only morning and afternoon shows had been cancelled.
Some pro-Kannada activists went to a BPO on Jayalakshmi Vilas Road and forced the management to shut down operations.
Protests in Hubballi
In Hubballli, Congress MLA Prasad Abbayya, CM's Parliamentary secretary C.S. Shivalli and other leaders courted arrest during a protest before the Divisional Railway Manager' s office over Mahadayi row.
There is widespread anger over police action at Yamanur village in Navalgund taluk. Police allegedly barged into houses and thrashed people including women after a stone pelting incident in the village on Friday.
Little impact in Bidar
The call had little impact on life in Bidar district but the response in Belagavi city was near total. There was good response in Saundatti, Ramdurg and Bailhongal towns, and mixed in Khanapur town. In Bidar, schools and colleges functioned as usual and government and private offices remained open. NKRTC buses and private vehicles were plying on the street as usual.
Police personnel were posted at central government establishments including the railway station, post office, and BSNL office after Nava Nirmana Sene members had announced they would stage a dharna before a central government establishment.
Good response in Hassan
In Hassan, the response was good. Schools and colleges were closed for the day, shops remained locked up, KSRTC buses were off the road and movement of autorickshaws was rare in the city.
The KSRTC bus station, one of the busiest in the State, wore a deserted look. A group of activists went around the city and forced a few educational institutes and shops to close. A few hotels were open for the fist few hours on the day.
Dr.Rajkumar Fans Association, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Raitha Sangha and other organisations had called for the bandh. Their members assembled at N.R.Circle to register their protest around 10 a.m.
Students affected
Schoolchildren were hit by the bandh. The schools and colleges had not declared holiday in advance. They took the decision only after the children had reached the schools on Saturday morning. The children had no facility to return home.
An eighth standard student waiting for a bus on B.M.Road told The Hindu , “My father, who works as a teacher, dropped me at the school in the morning. After getting inside, the holiday was declared. Now, I can’t call up my father to pick me as he has already gone for duty”. He was requesting those riding two-wheelers towards his locality – Katihalli.
Similarly, several schoolchildren and college students were seen at Dairy Circle and the bus station. A diploma student, native of Belur, said, he had reached Hassan by an early morning bus. “I had called up the college phone number to check if holiday declared. They said classes will be held. They declared a holiday only after we reached the college. Now, we have to wait till evening, when KSRTC bus services are expected to resume, to reach our place”, the student said.
Life normal in Dakshina Kannada
Life was normal across the district even as several Kannada organisations held demonstrations in front of government offices registering their anguish over the interim order. Educational institutions functioned normally while government offices remained open.
Private buses operated as usual while the KSRTC did not start the services initially following directions from its central office. By noon, KSRTC too started local operations and was planning to start long-distance services by afternoon, said KSRTC Mangaluru Divisional Contrller Vivekanand Hegde.
Business establishments, hotels, autorickshaws, taxis, train services and markets were operating as usual.
Normal life affected in Ballari
The response to the bandh call by pro-Kannada organisations was mixed in Ballari district. However, normal life was affected to some extent with almost all shops and business establishments, hotels and restaurants, petrol bunks, cinema houses and banks remaining closed. As a precautionary measure the district administration had declared a holiday for all educational institutions. State-owned city buses which plied upto 10 a.m. were later withdrawn while long distances buses were off the road. Passengers had to depend on private buses, autos and mini-passenger vehicles, which operated without any hindrance.
Activists of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) (Shivarame Gouda group) staged a protest demonstration at the Railway Station after the Hubballi-bound Hyderabad-Kolhapur Express train chugged in. They also took out a bike rally in the main streets of the city shouting slogans and demanding justice to the farmers seeking water from Mahadayi river.
Activists of KRV (Swabhimani group) came out in a procession and submitted a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, urging him to intervene and ensure justice to the State over sharing of Mahadayi river water. Banks, which had opened as usual, were closed when groups of protestors approached them to extend their cooperation for the cause of the State and the farmers. Police had made elaborate arrangements to meet any eventuality.
As at noon, the bandh passed off peacefully without any untoward incident being reported from any part of the district.
Good response in Belagavi
The “Karnataka bandh” evoked good response in Belagavi city and the entire district, including the towns of Chikkodi, Ramdurg, Bailhongal, Saundatti, Khanapur, Gokak and Kittur on Saturday. The response was near total in large number of areas and mixed in few areas situated away from the main market centres, main roads and bus stations. Though a few city buses and long-distance routes towards Maharashtra operated in the morning hours, their services were suspended following protest by farmers in the afternoon. However, sources at NWKRTC said the services would be resumed after 5 p.m. if the situation remained peaceful.
The declaration of holiday to all schools and colleges in the district came as a blessing in disguise to boost the impact of bandh, even as the attendance at government offices and banks was thin. Commercial establishments in all the major market centres remained closed, while medical stores, hospitals and private clinics were open. Cinema halls suspended shows from noon to 3 p.m. Some petrol stations remained closed. However, the wholesale and retail markets near Central Bus Station were partially opened as Saturday is the weekly market day in Belagavi.
While the Rani Channamma circle in the city remained a rallying point for various farmers, Kannada and social organisations to protest throughout the day, a group of farmers led by KRRS vice-president Basavaraj Mallali, Bharatiya Krishik Samaj State president Sidgouda Modgi and those representing various Kannada associations picketed the residence of Suresh C. Angadi, MP (BJP), on Sampige Road.
Similarly, farmers and Kannada activists staged angry protest and burnt tyres in Chikkodi, Yargatti, Saundatti, Ramdurg, Bailhongal, Kittur, Khanapur and other towns of the district.
Poor response in Raichur district
The Karnataka Bandh call failed to make much impact in Raichur district. Normal life remained largely unaffected in district headquarters as well as taluk and hobli centres as almost all shops, trading units at APMC market, educational institutions, theatres, hotels and other business establishments functioned as usual. Public transport system too was not affected as the buses operated by North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and autos were seen on the roads as usual.
However, around 20 activists associated with Karanthiveera Sangolli Rayanna Yuva Sene staged a demonstration outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Raichur. In Sindhanur, activists of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and other organisations took out a procession from Inspection Bungalow through major streets of the city to Post Office. The police prevented the agitators when the latter, raising slogans against Centre and Goa government, tried to lay siege to the post office.
At Hutti Gold Mines, Janata Dal (Secular) along with pro-Kannada organisations and Dalit outfits took out a protest march and staged a demonstration near the bus stand. The activists burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The activists demanded Mr. Modi to intervene and convince the Goa government to consider the need of Mahadayi water for drinking and irrigation purpose in Karnataka.
The poor response to the bandh call is largely attributed as reciprocation to the poor response from outside to Hyderabad Karnataka issues.
