Cauvery: Karnataka faces shutdown today

South Karnataka is set to observe bandh on February 12, on a call given by pro-Kannada groups to protest against the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal8217;s order increasing water allocation to Tamil Nadu.

South Karnataka is set to observe bandh on February 12, on a call given by pro-Kannada groups to protest against the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal8217;s order increasing water allocation to Tamil Nadu.

Leaders of groups like the Kannada Rakshana Vedike and Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha have stated that they will not allow airports, rail services, buses and other means of public transport to function on Monday.

The JDS-BJP coalition government is providing tacit support to the bandh. Leaders of the JDS from the Cauvery basin such as transport minister N Cheluvarayaswamy from Mandya and Co-operation minister G T Devegowda from Mysore have expressed solidarity with the protesters.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, while not expressing direct support, has stated that the tribunal8217;s order is unjust to Karnataka and difficult to accept. 8220;Though people are hurt, they have shown that they are peace-loving,8221; he said.

While there have been several protests around the state following the February 5 order, there has been no repeat of the violence of 1991 which left 22 people dead.

The bandh call was originally made for February 8 by pro-Kannada groups. But it was subsequently postponed at the state government8217;s request, to facilitate the smooth conduct of the international aerospace and defence aviation fair 8212; Aero India 2007.

Monday8217;s bandh will take place amid Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi8217;s visit as well as the commencement of the WTA international women8217;s tennis tournament.

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The government has ordered schools and colleges to be closed, while IT companies, business establishments and offices have decided to shut down themselves. MLA Vatal Nagaraj, leader of a prominent pro-Kannada group in the state, has warned the state government against conducting a state legislature session. He added that legislators would be prevented from attending the session.

Four companies of the Rapid Action Force and two companies of the CISF have been deployed in Karnataka, at the request of the state government, following the tribunal8217;s order. Additional forces have been sought from neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

A world Kannada convention scheduled for the third week of February in Belgaum district has also been postponed on account of the tribunal8217;s order. The government said the meet has been postponed indefinitely since it would be inappropriate to hold celebrations amid the gloom of the trubunal8217;s order.