Bengaluru bandh affects city life

City life in Bengaluru ground to a halt on Tuesday as farmer and pro-Kannada organisations held a bandh to protest release of Cauvery water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu in the midst of a water scarcity crisis in Karnataka.

While schools and colleges had declared a holiday, most technology companies asked their employees to work from home as a precaution.

Various farmer and pro-Kannada organisations held agitations at Freedom Park in the city and presented a memorandum to transport minister Ramalonga Reddy with their demands. The police have detained around 200 protestors, including Karnataka Water Conservation Committee president Kurubur Shantakumar, for violating prohibitory orders as they were trying to march towards the Raj Bhavan from Vidhana Soudha.


Shanthakumar congratulated the various factions for a peaceful protest and thanked BJP, JDS and AAP for their support. This bandh, he said, was a warning of people's anger.

The Bengaluru bandh comes on the heels of a protest in the state's sugarcane belt, Mandya and Maddur, on Saturday. BJP and JDS supported the agitation, and the government too only put up a token resistance, with chief minister Siddaramaiah declaring on Monday that he would not curtail a peaceful protest.