The Hindu 15.07.2009
Bandh paralyses normal life in Gulbarga city
Special Correspondent
| Several organisations had called for bandh for varied reasons |
Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti wants
Article 371 of the Constitution to be amended
Karnataka Rakshana Vedike protests against delay in taking up road-widening work in the city
Left without choice: A Banjara family waiting for a bus to go to Pedda Tanda, in Gulbarga during the bandh on Tuesday.
Gulbarga: Bandh was total in Gulbarga city on Tuesday. Normal life was paralysed with all shops, business establishments, both wholesale and retail markets downing their shutters in response to two separate bandh calls.
While the Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti and the Hyderabad Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industries supported by other organisations called for bandh demanding Amendment to Article 371 of the Constitution on the Telangana model, the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike called for Gulbarga city bandh to demand that an IAS officer be posted as the Commissioner of the Gulbarga City Corporation and also to demand that road-widening work be taken up in the city. Besides, the vedike activists protested against the lack of will of political parties to get Article 371 of the Constitution amended.
In response to the bandh call, the North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) authorities suspended its city and mofussil services since morning as a precautionary measure. The only saving grace for the harassed public in the absence of public transport was a few autorickshaws that defied the bandh call and operated in the city.
Although no untoward incident was reported in the city during the bandh, there were many incidents of intimidation by the organisers of the bandh, particularly involving activists of the vedike. They reportedly forced closure of shops and forced autorickshaw drivers to stop ferrying passengers in many interior localities. Total lawlessness prevailed in some parts of the city where supporters of the bandh erected barricades on the roads preventing free movement of traffic.
The police who were present in large numbers were a silent witness to the violation of law and open intimidation by the lathi-wielding vedike activists who ensured that the bandh was total.
Members of the Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samiti; Hyderabad Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HKCCI); Janata Dal (S); and Gulbarga Bar Association took out a procession from the Super Market to the Deputy Commissioner office where they submitted a memorandum urging the Union Government to amend Article 371 of the Constitution on the Telangana model.
Among those who participated in the procession were the former Minister and president of the Horata Samiti Vaijnath Patil; HKCCI president Umakant Nigudgi; Sulpul Mutt chief Sri Mahanta Shivacharyaru; Dalit leader Shivaram Moga; and district Janata Dal (S) president Shankaranna Voneykal.
The Karnataka Rakshana Vedhike protest was led by its state president Shivarame Gowda; president of the North Karnataka units of the vedike Sharanu Gaddige; and district president Arunkumar S. Patil.
The vedike activists burnt an effigy of Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar.