Bengaluru: Surprisingly, auto drivers too stayed off the roads on Saturday instead of making the most of the bandh and fleecing passengers as they are normally inclined to.
Passengers waiting for buses at the Kempegowda bus terminus in the Majestic area said most auto drivers refused to ferry them saying they could be attacked by activists supporting the bandh.
“The last time I arrived in the city on a bandh day auto drivers agreed to drop me if I paid double the meter. They used Kannada flags on their vehicles to pose as activists, but this time they were not willing to take the risk,’‘ said Mr. Sadananda Holla, a bank employee.
Going by the traffic police in the Majestic area, auto drivers were afraid to take passengers as activists had attacked some of them and cabs with sticks early morning on seeing them out on the roads .
Private vehicles too were not spared with activists attacking those on the roads in some parts of the city. “Activists lay down on the road near Satellite bus stand on Mysore road to stop all vehicles from plying till 2 pm,” said the traffic police.
But private vehicles were left undisturbed on MG Road, Brigade Road, Malleshwaram, Basavanagudi , the ORR and other central areas.
Protests rule traffic-free roads
The city witnessed widespread agitations as part of the Karnataka bandh in protest against the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal rejecting the interim petition of the state.
Thousands of protesters, led by the head of Kannada Okkoota, Vatal Nagaraj, gathered at Town Hall and Mysuru Bank Circle on Saturday morning. Shouting slogans against the state and central governments, the agitators demanded that justice should be done immediately to the people of North Karnataka.
They demanded that keeping the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal aside, the chief ministers of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra should convene a meeting and resolve the issue.
At the Mysuru Bank Circle, the effigies of 28 MPs representing the state were burnt. Activists of various pro-Kannada outfits took part in the protests. Rallies and dharnas ruled the roads in many parts of the city.
The police detained several women activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike when they tried to storm Raj Bhavan. At APMC Yeshwanthpur and K. R. Market, the agitators forcibly shut a few shops that were open.
Some miscreants threw stones at an ATM kiosk of a private bank near Freedom Park as it was not shut.
