Fuel price Hike: Bharat Bandh paralyses Bangalore on Sept 20

Bangalore, Sept 20: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led

showed their power in Karnataka. The state capital Bangalore on Thursday, Sept 20 saw complete shutdown on account of

called by NDA to protest against recent fuel price hike and UPA's decision to introduce

in retail.

Aam-aadmi (common man) suffered the most on Thursday as BMTC and KSRTC buses were kept off the roads in the Garden City. However, autos were plying in the city providing some relief to commuters.[READ: Bharat Bandh: Response lukewarm; PM's effigy burnt]

Many people were scared to come out on the street as the city had witnessed ruckus and violence when NDA had called for another strike on May 31 protesting against steep hike in petrol prices. Miscreants torched 3 BMTC buses forcing the transport corporation to suspend all services in Bangalore. Office-goers and others were left stranded in bus stands. A KSRTC bus was also reportedly set on fire in Hubli.

Government and private schools and restaurants were closed. Most of the IT companies announced holiday on Thursday. Wipro, HP, DELL, ZTE, Cisco, SAP, MindTree were closed, though they would work on Saturday.

However, Thursday will be a working day for many other companies such as i-Gate, Fidelity, Oracle, Genpact, IBM. While few companies will provide cab facilities, many will not give the same. Employees, who have been asked to attend office and will not be provided any transport facilities, may face difficulties during travelling on Thursday.

Security has been beefed up across Karnataka for the one-day bandh. Two companies of Central paramilitary forces arrived in Bangalore. About 17,000 personnel and nearly 30 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police and City Armed Reserve would patrol the city.

OneIndia News