Bandh effect: RGUHS exams postponed

The police have made elaborate arrangements to ensure law and order in the  City on Thursday, following a bandh call given by the BJP-led NDA against the hike in diesel prices.

Examinations of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) scheduled for September 20 have been postponed on account of the All India bandh, though Bangalore University will function as usual.

Exams of all the undergraduate courses of RGUHS scheduled for September 20 will be conducted on September 22, according to the university officials.

BMTC and KSRTC officials maintained no decision had been taken to withdraw bus services.

“The services will be as usual and we will ensure that enough security is provided at major bus stations,” said a senior official from KSRTC. However, a source in KSRTC said that the availability of buses would be decided only on Thursday, depending on the situation in the City.

Services to be called off

“If there is tension during the bandh and likelihood of damage to public property, we will call off the services,” he said. The Bangalore Tourist Taxi Owners’ Association general secretary Radhakrishna Holla and Rajavarma Ballal of the Private Bus Owners' Association on Tuesday said their associations had extended full support to the bandh.

The Federation of Karnataka Lorry Owners’ and Agents’ Association as also the maxi cabs’ and luxury cabs’ associations across the State have already declared that they will take part in the bandh to protest against the Union government’s move to hike fuel and other prices. G R Shanmugappa, president, All India Motor Transport Congress said that 8.5 lakh vehicles, including maxi cabs, taxis, vans and trucks, will be off the road on Thursday.

T Suneel Kumar, Additional Commissioner (Law and Order), Bangalore, told Deccan Herald that the entire strength of the City police numbering 17,000 would be on the road on Thursday to ensure law and order.

He said they would deploy men in mufti and also video record the protests to enable them to nab miscreants attempting to take advantage of the bandh. He said 30 platoons of KSRP and CAR would also be deployed across the City. He promised that essential services would not be affected by the bandh and anybody trying to disrupt them would be dealt with seriously.

BJP seeks public support

The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appealed to the people of the State to take part in the Bharat bandh called by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on September 20.

To this end, the party has asked labour and transport organisations, industries, commercial shops and establishments and citizens to participate in the bandh and thereby build pressure on the Centre to rollback the hike in diesel prices and the cap on the number of LPG cylinders per connection per year.

Addressing reporters on Tuesday, BJP MLA Ashwathnarayana alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was taking steps that favour foreign powers, to offset the perception in the international media that he was a failed prime minister battling various scandals.

Succumbed to the lobby

The JD(S) and Left parties are also due to stage protests on September 20. In a joint press conference, JD(S) working president P G R Sindhia, CPM general secretary G V Srirama Reddy, CPI politburo member Siddanagowda Patil alleged that the UPA government had succumbed to the lobby of private oil companies and agreed to hike diesel prices.

They said the BJP, instead of pointing fingers at the UPA government, should reduce the heavy taxes levied on petroleum products in the states ruled by it.

“This way, the burden on the people of the State will reduce to a certain extent. Instead of doing this, the party is staging protests against the Centre,” said Sindhia.