The city on Friday warmed up to Saturday’s Karnataka bandh as pro- Kannada organisations held a series of protests against the release of water to Tamil Nadu.
Though the protests did not affect normal life, traffic was affected near K R Circle and Freedom Park, where the protest march culminated. Over 5,000 members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike took out a rally. The rally was peaceful, said Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) T Suneel Kumar.
“There were five DCPs from the Traffic Department, two DCPs from Law and Order, 20 ACPs and close to 1,000 policemen monitoring the rally. Permission was given only for a moving march and the rally did not stop at any point for more than 10 minutes. So there were no traffic jams,” he said.
Shopkeepers located on the route of the protest downed shutters fearing a backlash; however, some shops reopened as the rally left the area. On Saturday, however, the city is all set to come to a halt due to the state-wide bandh called by Kannada organisations.
As a precautionary measure, all schools and colleges have declared a holiday on Saturday. Public transport is likely to be hit. However, authorities of KSRTC, BMTC and BMRCL said they will take a call depending upon the situation on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, autorickshaw and taxi unions in Bangalore have extended their full support by declaring that they will stay off the roads. While petrol bunks will remain closed on Saturday, other essential supplies like milk, vegetables and medicines will not be affected. Malls, cinemas, bars and hotels will remain closed.
There will be heavy police bandobast throughout the state comprising 65,000 policemen and 142 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police.
KRV president T A Narayana Gowda set a oneday deadline to the Union Government to reconsider its decision, failing which he has warned that all the Central Government offices will be targeted.