It's total bandh in Cauvery basin

Normal life came to a standstill, following a Karnataka bandh call in the city on Saturday. Various organisations extended support to the bandh call opposing the Cauvery River Authority’s (CRA) decision to release 9,000 cusecs of water from the reservoirs in Karnataka to Tamil Nadu till October 15.

Barring an attack on a software company at Metagalli Industrial Area and withdrawal of train services from Mysore to Shimoga and Bangalore junctions, the bandh was observed in a peaceful manner.

No sooner the day unfolded, various organisations, political parties and also trade unions took to the streets. Commercial establishments too had called it off. The city retunred to normalcy in the evening.

Earlier in the day, scores of BJP workers took out a procession from Kote Anjaneya Swamy Temple at the north gate of the Palace to Mahatma Gandhiji’s bust in front of Law Courts Complex under the leadership of their city unit president Shivakumar and chairman of Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) L Nagendra.

Janata Dal (Secular) workers staged a sit-in in front of Gandhiji’s bust in front of the court, while another section of workers went on a two-wheeler rally. Congress party workers too staged a protest. So also the members of All India Trade Union Congress, who took out a two-wheeler rally. Hoteliers under the banner of Hotel Owners Association staged a protest demonstration on the aforesaid temple premises, before taking out a rally. They wore black bands as a mark of protest. Golfers under the banner of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club rallied up to Srikanteshwara Iyer Circle (RTO circle) and formed a human chain. Prominent among other organisations that staged protest demonstrations are; Mysore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mysore Travel Agents Association, Mysore District Photographers and Videographers Association, Triton Valves Mazdoor Sangha, Vikrant Employees Union, Mysore District Cable Operators Association, Sri Chamundeshwari Shramajeevi Rastebadi Vyaparigala Sangha to name a few.

The activists set used tyres on fire in several places, venting their ire against the Central government for its step-motherly attitude towards Karnataka, favouring Tamil Nadu. A Kannada organisation put a lifesize doll of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha on the gallows on D Devaraja Urs road. The city police had made elaborate security arrangements with commissioner K L Sudheer supervising the bandobust at places. On Friday, the eve of the bandh, all police stations in the city had brokered peace with outfits in their jurisdictions asking them to observe the bandh peacefully.