With farmers and Kannada organisations divided over the Bengaluru bandh call for Tuesday, as a section of them remaining firm on a Statewide shutdown on September 29, confusion and chaos ruled on Monday.
Many organisations that had earlier supported Tuesday’s bandh call withdrew, indicating they may participate in the Karnataka bandh later this week.
This would essentially mean the Bengaluru bandh on Tuesday would at best be partial. While cabs, autorickshaws, and hotels and restaurants have decided to do usual business, Bengaluru (Urban) district administration has declared a holiday for schools and colleges as a precautionary measure.
However, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses may be off the road, even as Namma Metro services will likely to remain unaffected.
The city police have clamped prohibitory orders in Bengaluru on Tuesday and denied permission to any procession or protest marches.
City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda said police officials would take stern action against anyone seen forcing people to shut shop or participate in the bandh.
Given that riots broke out during similar protests over Cauvery river water dispute in the city in 2016, most of those accused of a role in those riots have been taken into preventive detention.
However, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Bengaluru Development and Water Resources, D.K. Shivakumar, said that the government would not try to prevent any protests.
