The pro-Kannada organizations are also demanding that the central government should waiver the loans of farmers in the light of a series of farmer suicides in the state since April this year.
Normal life is likely to be affected in Karnataka on Saturday with a state bandh being called by a Federation of Kannada Organisations seeking the implementation of the Kalasa-Banduri irrigation project in North Karnataka and the Mekedatu drinking water project near Bengaluru in south Karnataka.
Pro-Kannada activists led by veteran leader Vatal Nagaraj have rallied the support of nearly 1000 organizations for the bandh which is intended to pressurize the BJP government at the centre to facilitate the projects that are being opposed by Goa and Tamil Nadu.
The Congress government in Karnataka is not officially supporting the bandh call issued by the pro-Kannada organizations. Farmers in north Karnataka have been agitating for over a month demanding implementation of the Kalasa Banduri project.
The pro-Kannada organizations are also demanding that the central government should waiver the loans of farmers in the light of a series of farmer suicides in the state since April this year.
In the light of the bandh on Saturday government schools and colleges have declared a holiday. Commissioner of Public Instruction K S Satyamurthy said that the holiday on Saturday would be compensated by a full working day on October 3.
Meanwhile, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has stated that its services will ply normally on Saturday though employees unions have extended support for the bandh.
“We have not decided to stop operations but we will take a call after assessing the situation tomorrow,†a transport department official said.
Among the groups supporting the ban are unions from the local film industry, taxi and auto rickshaw drivers, lorry owners and several pro-Kannada organisations. Factories, HOTELS, private firms, schools and colleges would be closed in Bengaluru as part of the bandh.
The Federation of Kannada Organisations will take out a procession from Town Hall to Freedom Park at 10 am and will hold public meeting there.
Last month a delegation of the state government had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek his intervention to solve the water problem between Karnataka and Goa. The Prime Minister had asked whether Karnataka was serious about solving the problem or merely engaging in politics.
