HAVERI: The Haveri bandh call given by the Taluk Kannada Sahitya Parishat along with poets, writers and several organisations against shifting the venue of the 81st Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana to Ranebennur from Haveri was total on Monday.
All business establishments, hotels, petrol pumps, cinema halls, shops at the APMC yard, Lal Bhadur Shastri vegetable market and cattle markets closed voluntarily. Most schools and colleges also declared a holiday and autorickshaws were off the roads.
However, NWKRTC and KSRTC buses and train services ran as usual.
In the morning, members of various forums took out a rally from Sri Siddeshwar Temple through Hosmani Siddappa Circle, M G Road, Market Road and J P Road and submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner K Manjunath Nayak.
Members of the District Lawyers Association boycotted court proceedings in support of the bandh, said its president N S Patil.
MLA Rudrappa Lamani appealed to Kannada Sahitya Parishat state president Pundalik Halumbi to give Haveri a chance to host the sammelana.
Members of the Hotel Owners Association, Kirana Merchants Association, all Kannada and social organisations supported the bandh.
KSP district general secretary Virupakshappa Padagodi, taluk president Y B Aladakatti, writer Virupakshappa Korgal, poets Satish Kulkarni and Gangadhar Nandi, CMC president I U Pathan and Haveri Urban Development Authority chairman Sanjeevakumar Neeralagi also spoke.
KCC Bank director Kotreshappa Baseganni, District Chamber of Commerce and Industries president P D Shirur, CMC vice-president Ratna Bhimakkanavar, councillors, ZP members and District Congress Committee president SFN Gazigoudar were present.
KSP district president G B Masanagi’s decision to hold the sammelana at Ranebennur triggered the protests.