Hours after the Supreme Court rap on Thursday over the Cauvery river water sharing issue, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah urged his Tamil Nadu counterpart J Jayalalithaa to protect Kannadigas and their property in her state during the proposed shutdown on Friday.
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Several local grocery shops, which usually open by daybreak, remained shut in view of the protests.
As the violence flared up soon after the Supreme court gave its amended order, directing Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu till September 20, police had clamped curfew in 16 police station limits of Bengaluru City, which was lifted yesterday.
The Cauvery River, which originates in Karnataka and flows into Tamil Nadu, has been the source of a bitter water dispute for decades.
Barring the ruling AIADMK, its allies and affiliated trade unions, all other Opposition parties, including the DMK, Tamil Nadu Congress, DMDK, MDMK, Left parties and the PMK, are supporting the bandh.
In Chennai, people prepared themselves by buying groceries and vegetables for Friday and numerous supermarkets were crowded.
Many private schools also declared holiday while majority of auto-rickshaws, taxis and private buses remained off the roads. Conscious Chennaiites filled their vehicle tanks in advance as petrol bunks would remain closed.
Public transport will keep off the roads too.
Milk vendors, who had earlier said they would support the bandh, clarified that they would restrict themselves to moral support. Pharmacist bodies also came out with a similar statement about essential services.
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V R Sounderrajan, Advisor, All Wholesale Traders’ Association at the Koyambedu market in Chennai, said thousands of vegetable vendors and related workers would participate in the bandh by staying away from work. The apex court also insisted that the state government take immediate action against the trouble makers. Along the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, commuters were forced to walk across Attibele after Karnataka Police stopped vehicular movement.
