BANGALORE: Do not venture in or out of Bangalore unless it is absolutely necessary on Monday when the dawn-to-dusk Karnataka bandh called by several organisations to protest against the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal is on.

The bandh is expected to be total, barring essential services. Swanky, glass-fronted buildings are sporting a netting, actor Rajkumar's picture or a robust slogan in Kannada in support of Karnataka's claim over the Cauvery waters, to pre-empt any missiles.

Public transport service will come to a halt as buses, autorickshaws and taxis would be off the road. This is expected to affect work at Government offices, banks, and courts. Students should not have a problem because it is a holiday for them.

People arriving in Bangalore by buses, trains and flights will be hard pressed to reach their destinations. Sources in the Airport Authority of India said the operation of flights would depend on the situation.

"Though we are prepared to operate our facilities, we will take a decision on assessing the situation on Monday," they said.

Bus services

Highly placed sources in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) indicated they are not prepared to put at risk the safety of passengers and buses by operating services.

A senior KSRTC officer, however, said the arrival of buses to the city would not be affected till 6 a.m. Instructions have been issued to all offices to ensure early departure of buses from far away places so that they can reach their destination before 6 a.m.

If necessary, passengers who have reserved their seats in advance will be informed of the changed schedules on Sunday. Departure of buses would be normal after 6 p.m. on Monday.

A senior BMTC official said they were unlikely to operate the services as they were not sure how many employees would turn up for work.

Trains

The South Western Railway would make all attempts to operate trains, according to its Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore, Mahesh Mangal. "If things go beyond our control, we would be helpless and trains might get delayed," Mr. Mangal told The Hindu .

According to Karnataka State Bank Employees' Federation President M. Anjani, banks would practically remain closed as the employees would not be able to make it. However, no holiday has been declared officially.

IT companies

Information Technology and IT-enabled services companies stand to lose in manhours which they usually bill clients in dollars.

IBM has about five development and service centres here catering to overseas clients.

Depending on the nature of the client companies requirements, staff on night duty will continue to work till early Monday morning, when they will be dropped back home. If not, the company, which runs some 30 cabs for its staff, is arranging for food and accommodation in their own premises.

At GE Technology Centre, the staff gets a three-day weekend which they have to make up by working next Saturday. Infosys, Accenture and Oracle will be partly closed subject to the situation in the city.

With the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce backing the bandh, all the cinemas will remain closed.

Essential and emergency services such as supply of milk and newspapers, ambulances, medical stores and hospitals will not be affected as they have been exempted, according to MLA Vatal Nagaraj, whose Karanataka Gadi Horata Samithi has given the bandh call.

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