All buses remained off the road, causing severe inconvenience to the general public
Members of various organisations protest against CM Siddaramaiah in Hubballi on the IIT controversy (Photo:KPN)
Hubballi: The dawn-to-dusk bandh called by BJP and other organizations, opposing the letter written by the Chief Minister to the Centre seeking shifting of IIT to Raichur, received good response with all business establishments remaining closed on Wednesday. Protesters damaged three KSRTC buses by pelting stones at Hosur road in Hubballi and Navalur in Dharwad. All buses remained off the road, causing severe inconvenience to the general public. However, auto rickshaws services were not affected as its drivers, workers union and few farmer organizations did not heed the bandh call.
Many farmer leaders did not take part in the agitation alleging that they were not taken into confidence before calling for bandh by BJP and Chamber of Commerce. The BJP workers and members of pro-Kannada organizations staged protest at Channamma circle, raising slogans against the Chief Minister. They also burnt an effigy of CM Siddaramaiah and condemned the move to politicize the issue, leading to fight between the people of Raichur and Dharwad over setting up of the premier institute. The district administration had declared holiday for schools and colleges as a precautionary measure.
Kannada activists locked the office of District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in Dharwad, leading to suspension of transfer process of the school teachers. The protesters also set tyres on fire at various places in the twin cities. They also staged procession from Jubilee circle to the office of the deputy commissioner in Dharwad and submitted a memorandum. Thousands of students from various colleges also took part in the procession. They warned that the CM would be gheraoed during his visit to the city on September 27 to take part in Krishi Mela.
“Bandh call is inevitable for us as we cannot start the process of setting up of IIT in Dharwad until the Chief Minister withdraws his letter written to human resource ministry seeking premier institute in Raichur. Centre will withhold the IIT proposal for our city until the State government provides basic infrastructure including the land for it. Though the Centre has sanctioned IIT, the onus to implement it lies with the State government which has adopted a dual approach”, Dharwad MLA Arvind Bellad said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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