In view of the hike in fuel price and introduction of FDI in retail, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has called for a nationwide protest on Thursday. Although the state government has not declared an official holiday, daily activities are likely to be hit.
Education: Schools in the city have taken a safe stand as most of them have declared a holiday on Thursday. Authorities of Delhi Public School (North and South), Ryan International School, B M English School and India International School have informed students that classes on Thursday have been suspended.
However, some schools have chosen to function as scheduled. “As there is no official holiday, the school will be functional on Thursday. If there are untoward incidents, we will suspend classes,” said B Gayethri Devi, principal, Little Flower Public School in Hosakerehalli.
Commissioner for Public Instruction S R Umashankar said there is no official holiday declared as there is no special information of any possible violence from the Home Department. “However, the final decision is taken by the headmasters (or principals) of schools. They will have to take a call after assessing the situation,” he said.
The Higher Education Department, Principal Secretary, Siddaiah said that Government has not given any instruction to declare holiday to colleges, however the college authorities can suspend classes based on the situation as apprised by the Deputy Commissioners.
Transport: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) officials are adopting cautious measures on the bandh.
While bus services will operate normally on Thursday, officials are expecting disruption of services and closely monitoring the situation. “While we will operate buses, we do not know if there will be attacks. If the buses are attacked, we will have to stop services to those areas,” said a senior official from KSRTC. However BMTC has requested the police to provide adequate protection so that services may not be affected. “We will be operating as normal on Thursday and will monitor the situation. If any untoward incidents are reported then we will take necessary action,” said K A Srinivas, MD, BMTC.
IT Companies: Meanwhile, IT companies in the city will function as per the schedule. Some companies have asked their employees to work on Saturday if they are unable to work on Thursday.
BJP leaders in the state have appealed to the trade bodies including Chamber of Commerce, various industries, commercial establishments, trade unions, including BMTC and KSRTC drivers unions to cooperate with the bandh. “The bandh will be total in Karnataka,” BJP MLC Ashwatnarayran told reporters here.