Several pro-Kannada organisations on Saturday called for a 12-hour bandh (shutdown)in Karnataka. The shutdown started at 6 am and will continue till 6 pm. The bandh was called to protest against the alleged attack on a Karnataka State Regional Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus driver and a conductor in Belagavi for not speaking Marathi.
The incident, which took place in February this year, flared up the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra. The bus conductor was allegedly attacked at Marihal in Belagavi.
What Will Remain Close?
- KSRTC and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) supported the bandh due to this bus services will remain affected.
- Taxi-app aggregators like Ola and Uber have backed the bandh.
- Colleges and schools in Bengaluru will remain closed due to security reasons.
- Some reports even claimed that multiplexes and, malls have extended symbolic support to the bandh. They might remain closed.
What Will Remain Open?
- Government offices will remain open.
- Hospitals and medical shops will not be shut.
- Petrol pumps will also operate as usual.
- Delivery apps, including Zomato and Swiggy, will remain functional. Hotels and restaurants will also remain open.
- Railways and airports will be functional.
Visuals Of The Bandh:
Notably, on Thursday, Karnataka's deputy CM DK Shivakumar had said that the state government would not support the shutdown called by pro-Kannada groups.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened in Belagavi where the bus conductor was allegedly attacked.
What Flared-Up Tensions Between Karnataka and Maharashtra:
The decade-old border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra once again flared up when a bus driver and a conductor were beaten up for allegedly not speaking in Marathi at Marihal in Belagavi. The bus conductor stated in his police complaint that a girl asked for a ticket in Marathi. When he said he did not know Marathi and asked her to speak in Kannada, she and her male friend attacked him.
At Marihal, a group of youths intercepted the bus and beat up the conductor. In a retaliatory act, miscreants attacked and blackened a bus driver of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) Bhaskar Jadhav at Guyilal in Hiriyur Taluk of Chitradurga district.
