Bangalore bandh passes off peacefully

BANGALORE: The dawn-to-dusk Bangalore Bandh called in protest against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu was a total success and peaceful affair.
Thoroughfares wore deserted look, affecting normal life in the city. Sporadic incidents of stone pelting from areas identified as hyper-sensitive were reported.
The hypersensitive areas are Kamakshi Palya, Basaveshwaranagar, Hebbal, Chord Road, Magadi Road, Vijayanagar, Mysore Road, K.G.Road- all of which had witnessed unprecedented violence during the 1991 Cauvery riots.By clamping prohibitory orders and deploying additional forces including the Rapid Action Force (RAF), the police ensured that the city did not witness any ugly incident.
The police curbed the movement of youths, closed wine shops and petrol pumps in these areas which helped them handle the bandh. Despite this, stone pelting was reported from Shivanahalli, Peenya and Mysore Road.
Groups of Kannada volunteers burnt Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha''s effigy in Rajajinagar, Hebbal Ring Road, Jayanagar, Vijayanagar, Banashankari, Chamarajpet, Yeshwanthapur, Mathikere, and Chord Road, near Prasanna theatre on Magadi Road.
Protestors damaged a Toyota Qualis vehicle near Modi Hospital in Basaveshwaranagar. Another group damaged a jeep in Chandra Layout and miscreants tried to set fire to it, but the timely intervention by the police defused the situation.
The Cubbon Park police arrested several leaders of Kananda organisations including Vatal Nagaraj when they tried to block the road leading to Raj Bhavan on Thursday morning. Later, they were released.
KSRTC, BMTC, private buses and autorickshaws stayed away from the road. Shops and establishments including hotels remained closed all over the city. Only medical shops were seen open in several parts of the city. All activity came to a stand still at Russel Market area in Shivajinagar, eateries and poultry joints closed the shop in support of the Bandh.
Both the Central and State government offices remained open, but, the attendance was very poor. This because of closing down of the public transport and police curtailing the movement of vehicles on the roads. High Court and other courts also remained open, but there were hardly any petitioners and advocates, only judges attended the office.
Several banks were closed and miscreants got a bank on R.V.Road to close down by using force. Reserve Bank of India was open and several government departments remitted money.
The city police had made tight security arrangements by deploying one company of RAF, 60 platoons of City Armed Reserve and 24 platoons of KSRP. This apart from 1,000 home guards. Police Commissioner H.T.Sangliana, Joint Commissioner Jeevan Kumar B.Gaonkar and other senior officers were on their toes from early morning on Thursday monitoring security arrangements. At one point of time, some officers felt there was a shortage of troops.
The police had kept a close watch in sensitive areas inhabited by the linguistic minorities. Buses from Tamil Nadu and other areas were stopped on the outskirts and alternate arrangements made to transport public to their destination in the city. This caused hardship to the visitors.
Private schools and colleges had declared a holiday. Essential services, including milk supply and medical services, remained normal.
The protesters did not cause any harm to two-wheeler riders. Over 500 `trouble-makers'' were taken into preventive custody since Wednesday.
``The bandh passed off peacefully because there was no movement of buses and shops remained closed. Partial opening of shops and movement of buses would have aggravated the situation. This is the reason why we advised against movement of buses and schools remaining open on the Bandh day,'''' a senior police officer said.