The call for a ‘Karnataka bandh’ by organisations, protesting against the setting up of a Maratha Development Corporation, received lukewarm response in majority of the districts in Bombay Karnataka region and life went on as usual.
In almost all the districts, public transport was not affected and business and commercial establishments operated as usual. Barring those who had closed shops, out of fear of untoward incidents, most of the shopkeepers carried out their business as usual. The agitation by organisations was restricted to demonstrations in most places.
At several places in the region including Dharwad, Hubballi, and Gadag, the police took various protestors into preventive custody after they tried to block roads and tried to close shops and commercial establishments forcefully.
In Hubballi- Dharwad, the situation remained normal with public transport remaining unaffected and shops and commercial establishments functioning as usual. Autorickshaws plied normally. Although the public transport buses operated as usual, people did not come out initially and by noon it picked up.
In Dharwad, protesters were taken into custody at Jubilee Circle after they tried to block road and similarly around 15 protestors were detained at Sangolli Rayanna Circle in Hubballi after they tried to close down the shops forcefully.
As a precautionary measure, the police had made elaborate bandobast at vantage points and important junctions to prevent any untoward incident.
In Gadag, protesters were prevented from closing down shops forcefully. At Mulagund Naka in Gadag, protesters were stopped and taken into custody when they tried to stop buses. Meanwhile despite police efforts to prevent them, the protestors managed to burn effigy of the former Union Minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal for his derogatory statement against Kannada organisations.
