The bandh, called by the Mandya Zilla Raitha Hitarakshana Samiti against the release of water to Tamil Nadu, on Saturday received good response here. It was by and large peaceful. The Mandya district administration had declared holiday for schools and colleges.
Samiti president G. Made Gowda, the former Minister and Mandya District Congress Committee president M.S. Atmananda and other leaders went round the town in the morning and requested shopkeepers to support the bandh.
Later, commercial establishments downed shutters on Ambedkar Road, Rajendra Prasad Road, Visvesvaraya Road, Krishnaraja Road, Vinoba Road, Pete Beedhi and on almost all major roads.
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The samiti members and farmers staged protests on several roads. Traffic on the Bangalore–Mysore highway was hit owing to road blockade between Srirangapatna and Maddur.
A large number of farmers, including women and children, blocked the highway at Gejjalagere, near Maddur, and Induvalu on the outskirts of Mandya.
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The agitators brought livestock and parked bullock carts on the highway, demanding that water release to Tamil Nadu be immediately stopped. The police allowed vehicles to proceed through Malavalli and Kanakapura.
Milk supply was normal, and hospitals and medical stores were open. Burning of tyres and also posters and effigies of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa were reported from different parts of the district.
Mandya Nagara Sarige and KSRTC buses remained off the road after noon.
Heavy police force has been deployed across the district.
Meanwhile, Mr. Made Gowda said farmers would lay siege to the Krishnaraja Sagar on Sunday and to the Vidhana Soudha on Monday.
Thousands of farmers from across the district would participate in the protest, he told presspersons on Saturday.