Karnataka Bandh will cost city dear, warn trade activists

Bengalurulu: In terms of revenue, the total shutdown on Saturday could cost Bengaluru in crores, warn academicians and economists.

“Even a bandh on a weekend could make both the state and traders poorer by several crores. We need to re-think on using bandhs as a pressure tactic as its the people who ultimately pay the price,”  said a trade activist, Sajjanraj Mehta.

Agreeing, an economics professor, Shashidhar Tantri KL, argues that when both the Union and state governments are aware of the seriousness of the issue at hand, a bandh is uncalled for. “It’s the common people who suffer during such strikes,” he noted.

But activists, supporting the bandh, feel when North Karnataka has been agitating for release of the Mahadayi water for the last year, the rest  of the state has a duty to stand by it when the tribunal has struck a blow to its hopes.

“Neither the state nor the Union governments have bothered to resolve the dispute despite the year-long agitation. We had no option but to shut down Bengaluru to drive home our message,” said Mr. Shankar Kudugodi, an activist  protesting before the Town Hall against the Union government’s lack of interest in resolving the issue to Karntaka's satisfaction.

Activist Sa Ra Govindu claimed the bandh’s success in Bengaluru proved that the people of the city were with the farmers of North Karnataka and ready to make sacrifices in the state’s interests.