Blackburn2Bangalore

Today has been declared as a statewide bandh in Karnataka in protest over the ruling of water allocation from the Cauvery River. The tribunal ruled, after 16 years of investigation, as to how much water Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu, the neighbouring state, from the River Cauvery.

Last Monday (5th) the tribunal made their ruling, and there was fear of repeats of the 1991 riots in Bangalore when the tribunal made an interim ruling. These fears were not realised, as thousands of police were deployed and arrested some 500 people before the ruling (nothing like preventative measures). The ruling did not appear to go Karnataka’s way, however over the coming days as the 1,000 page ruling document was digested, it appears that actually Karnataka gets to keep surplus water, so despite giving more to Tamil Nadu, it gets to keep more for itself! That said, there seems to be great confusion, and the bandh goes on, also Karnataka is said to want to appeal the ruling.

Originally, the bandh was set to happen on Thursday (8th), but was moved to today because of Indian airshow (Aero India 2007) in Bangalore. They didn’t want visitors to feel threatened by civil disruption during a big international event. The Tennis Association then decided to jump on the same bandwagon as Serena Williams was coming to Bangalore for a tennis tournament due to start today. She has now withdrawn from the tournament, due to ‘illness’, and the tournament has now been rescheduled to start tomorrow instead of today!

The bandh means that from 6am to 6pm there are no non-privately owned vehicles are on the roads, virtually all shops and business are closed, only Kanada TV channels are aired, and the whole place comes to a standstill. On the right is a picture I took from my balcony at 10:15 this morning. This is Bannerghatta Road, normally a busy road with cars, autorickshaws, motorbikes etc. going up and down. Today there is hardly a vehicle to be seen, and it is nice and peaceful, unlike the usual constant honking of horns I have become accustomed to. On the left, you can see that cows can walk down the road in peace!

The bandh should be peaceful, but these things have been known to flare up in some areas with rioting etc. (where I live is not a ’sensitive’ area). The advice is not to travel, so today I am working from home, besides I have no transport. Of course this causes problems for the call centre, there is no bandh in the UK, and I doubt people will want to wait until tomorrow to call. So we have made arrangements for staff to stay last night in hotels close to work so they can come in today. Some will make their own way, as they live close by, or are able to stay with friends locally. The normal company transport is not an option, even if the drivers were willing to work, they would be putting themselves and passengers in a dangerous position. It is those who do not follow the bandh that put themselves at risk of violence from others. If everyone follows the rules, there will be no trouble.

So today we are hoping to have the call centre 85% staffed, and hoping there will not be an influx of calls! Today should pass peacefully, and tomorrow will then be just another day!