Bharat bandh called by the NDA and Left parties to protest the steep hike in petrol prices on Thursday left India’s technology hub partially affected. Normal life was paralysed as city buses remained off the road.
IT major Infosys Technologies declared holiday for staff in Bangalore due to a lack of transport facility and in Mangalore as a precautionary measure. But its Mysore campus and development centres in other states worked as usual.
Other IT majors — Wipro Ltd, Mphasis and ITC Infotech remained opened. Global tech majors like Intel, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Accenture and IBM decided to shut for the day and work on a weekend (Saturday) in lieu of Thursday.
“As the management decided against a holiday, our software engineers are working in the twin campuses in Bangalore. There is no impact of shutdown on our operations,” a Wipro official said.
Absence of state-run and private buses, mini-vans and maxi cabs also forced about 200 Indian and overseas midsize IT firms in the Software Technology Parks of India and Electronics City on the outskirts to close for the day.
Other business establishments remained closed and schools and colleges declared a holiday. Home Minister R Ashok said barring some stray incidents of violence, the bandh was peaceful in the state. There were some stray incidents of stone pelting in some parts, he told reporters, adding, as many as 15 buses were damaged in stone pelting and two buses set on fire.
In cities and towns across the state, the shutdown evoked a good response, especially in coastal and northern districts, as state-run and private buses, trucks and other vehicles stayed off the roads from morning, colleges and schools declared holiday, hotels and restaurants remained shut.
Though the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state is supporting the shutdown as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led opposition parties on the national front, offices of the state government functioned despite thin attendance and late-coming due to the lack of public transport, taxis and three-wheeler autorickhaws.
Train services and flights of state-run Air India and private carriers, however, remained unaffected though the number of passengers was about 50 per cent less than on a normal working day.
Chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda said the state government would look into the possibility of reducing cess on petrol after the Legislature Council polls on June 11 to reduce the burden on the common man.
“I will look into the possibility of reducing cess on petrol soon after elections to the legislature council. For now, I can’t comment on the issue due to model code of conduct,” he said.
Intra-state and inter-state bus services were suspended for the day as a precautionary measure after a dozen vehicles of the state-run KSRTC were stoned and set on fire by miscreants in Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Davanagere, Raichur, Gulbarga and Belgaum.
State-run Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) also withdrew its buses across the city after six of its vehicles were damaged by mobs in central and suburban localities.
People had a tough time buying groceries and vegetables earlier in the day as supplies did not reach markets and departmental stores remained shut. Supply of milk was, however not affected as it was exempted from the shut down. Medical shops also remained open.
In a related development, ruling party’s leaders, and several party cadres were detained for leading a protest rally against the fuel price hike in the city.
Hundreds of members of the Left parties — the CPM and CPI and students of the Left-wing student federations were detained in different parts of the state for taking out processions against the UPA government, seeking rollback of petrol price.
