New Delhi: The whirlpool of protests that began in Karnataka in the wake of the Cauvery Tribunals verdict seems to have calmed down with Capital Bangalore returning to normal on Wednesday morning.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will convene an all-party meet on the Cauvery issue on Wednesday to discuss the future course of action on the Cauvery Tribunal's final verdict that allotted 270 tcm feet to Karnataka as against 470 tmc to Tamil Nadu.
“We were briefed in detail by the state advocates and irrigation experts who appeared before the tribunal and argued the state’s case. A final decision on the draft of the review petition and other measures to be taken to protect the interests of farmers will be taken after the all-party meeting,” he told reporters.
Kumaraswamy also praised the residents of Karnataka for maintaining calm and appealed to the regional parties and Kannada organisations to ensure their demonstrations against the award remain peaceful.
Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has already said the government will file a review petition.
The Cabinet meet was to be conducted on Tuesday, but was called off as all the state’s leaders had to rush to Mangalore to attend the last rites of a legislator.
“The all-party meeting on the government’s decision to file a review petition against the verdict will be held tomorrow as leaders of the main opposition party (Congress) had to rush to Managalore to attend the last rites of its sitting legislator, U T Fareed, who passed away earlier in the day,” state Home Minister, M P Prakash said.
Shutdown put off
Though around 16,000 lawyers in Bangalore will be on strike on Wednesday, the proposed state shutdown - scheduled for Thursday in protest against the final Cauvery water-sharing award - has been postponed to February 12 to avoid disrupting the five-day Aero India show beginning in Bangalore on Wednesday.
”We have agreed to put off the statewide bandh to next Monday at the behest of the state government and prevent disrupting an international event like the air show taking place at Yelahanka base of the IAF on the outskirts of Bangalore,” Vatal Paksha president, Vatal Nagaraj told journalists on Tuesday.
With unprecedented security measures in place for the Aero India event, the city police remained on guard and maintained vigil to thwart any untoward incidents.
”Barring stray incidents of stone-throwing and burning of tyres to block roads and divert vehicular traffic on the Bangalore-Mysore state highway, the situation remained under control even as uneasy calm prevails in the dominant Tamil-speaking area,” the city police commissioner, Mr N Achut Rao was quoted by news agencies as saying.
On Tuesday, though most schools and colleges were shut, hundreds of IT and BPO companies in and around the city functioned normally.
However, attendance in offices remained thin attendance due to inadequate public transport.
Life was affected in several towns across the basin region with various farmers and social organisations calling for a shutdown in protest against the tribunal award.
Train services in the southern parts of the state were affected with agitators squatting on the rail tracks at several stations.
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