The Hindu Business Line : Karnataka bandh peaceful

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Bangalore Feb. 12 What normally takes 25 minutes for a two-wheeler rider to cover a 5-km stretch took about 7 minutes on Monday here, thanks to the State-wide, dawn-to-dusk bandh called by various organisations in the State protesting the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal verdict.

The roads wore a deserted look, free of the crowded buses, criss-crossing auto-rickshaws, two-wheelers and four-wheelers that usually result in a nightmarish traffic on the city's arterial roads.

Normal life hit

Most Bangaloreans opted to stay indoors, fearing any untoward incident. All shops, commercial establishments, educational institutions, cinema halls, hotels and restaurants were closed. However, emergency services such as hospitals and pharmacies were exempt from the bandh.

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly adjourned for the day without transacting any official business. Several flights were either rescheduled or combined or cancelled, sources at different airlines said.

Mr R.C. Purohit, President, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the strike would hit the manufacturing and trading units more, as they worked 24x7 and there was no way to compensate for Monday's losses. "The losses across the State for these units, including the Agricultural Products Marketing Committees, would be over Rs 500 crore. Of this, the losses for those in Bangalore alone would be over Rs 300 crore," he added.

IT sector move

Hewlett-Packard, Sasken, Infinite, i-flex and Dell remained closed. While IT services behemoth IBM announced that its offices will be open on February 18 as compensation for the day's loss, Infosys and Wipro will work on February 24. In clarification, the Wipro spokesperson said the date was chosen according to the convenience of the company and didn't reflect any unease about the situation.

In some IT companies, transport for those employees who had pressing work was arranged before 6 a.m. to ensure compliance with the 12-hour bandh.

Some others such as those of Sun Microsystems worked from home. Employees of business process outsourcing firm 24x7 were allocated shifts keeping in mind the bandh.

Other BPO firms transferred operations to other centres as part of their business continuity plan. Hence, losses for the day were buffered by the companies beforehand.

"It will be difficult to estimate losses for the day as most companies are compensating for it by working on Saturday," said Mr Purohit. Bangalore is home to 1,500 Indian and multinational IT firms and accounts for 37 per cent of annual software exports.

Auto majors such as Toyota-Kirloskar Motor Company and Volvo, and auto parts company MICO, too, downed shutters.

Tight security

The police imposed a 24-hour Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code, which prohibits assembly of four or more people, on Sunday night. Barring stray incidents of protests in Mysore city, the situation in the State was peaceful, the Karnataka Director-General of Police, Mr K.R. Srinivasan, said.

Addressing the media after attending a meeting called by the Chief Minister, Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, to review the law and order situation, he said, "The bandh is effective, but peaceful."

More than 70,000 security personnel have been deployed in the State; about 20,000 have been deployed in Bangalore alone. Those who have been staging protests were taken into custody, he said.

The police detained activists belonging to the Kannada Rakshana Vedike group, who protested in front of the airport and the city's railway stations.

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