KSRTC to support Karnataka bandh on Jan 25

Karnataka has locked horns with Goa over the Mahadayi river sharing issue to supply water for Hubballi and Dharwad towns for drinking water through Kalasa-Banduri canal.

State-owned Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will support the bandh called by Kannada organisations over the Mahadayi river issue. The general public would be severely affected by this as around 23,000 buses may go off-road.

Pro-Kannada organisations have also called for a Bengaluru bandh on February 4 which will coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the city. The pro-Kannada outfits had earlier asked Modi to intervene in the Mahadayi river water sharing dispute between the state and neighbouring Goa.

Karnataka has locked horns with Goa over the Mahadayi river sharing issue to supply water for Hubballi and Dharwad towns for drinking water through Kalasa-Banduri canal. Recently, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said he would go by the decision taken by the Mahadayi river water sharing tribunal.

Vatal Nagaraj, leading the umbrella organisation Kannada Okkoota, had earlier said the Kannada film industry has already agreed to support the bandh. Nagaraj, leader of Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha (KCVP), a pro-Kannada outfit, claimed that about 2,000 pro-Kannada outfits had backed the bandh call.

The Kannada organisations have also decided to show black flag to Modi when he visits Karnataka on January 28 for the concluding ceremony of BJP's Nava Karnataka Parivarthana Yatra, a state-wide programme against the Congress government.

Karnataka is seeking release of 7.56 tmcft water by Goa from the Mahadayi river for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project, being undertaken to improve the drinking water supply to Hubballi-Dharwad and districts of Belagavi and Gadag in the northern region.

On December 27 last year, a bandh was observed in five north Karnataka districts over the same issue following a call by farmer groups.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs