Hubballi: Having met with no success on the Kalasa Banduri project despite agitating for a year, thousands of farmers spearheaded a bandh in Dharwad, Gadag and Bagalkot districts on Saturday, to mark the completion of 365 days of their agitation.
While the farmers arrived in all taluks and distict headquarters to condemn the failure of the state and Centre to resolve the Mahadayi water dispute with Goa and clear the way for the Kalasa Banduri project, religious heads, who are backing their agitation, resolved to take a delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to persuade him intervene in the dispute.
The bandh saw all business establishments voluntarily down shutters, and schools and colleges shut for the day in Gadag. Bus services were suspended as farmers blocked the Hubballi-Vijaypur national highway and Nargund town, the launch-pad of the movement, saw a total shut down.
While farmers here set fire to tyres in several places, there was no violence anywhere else in the region. Normal life came to a grinding halt in Dharwad as well, but the bandh received mixed response in Hubballi with leaders of several local organisations refusing to back it and schools and colleges functioning as usual.
