Mangalore, February 20 ;In coastal districts of Udupi and Mangalore the nationwide bandh evoked mixed response.
Though most of the private buses and autos in Mangalore remained off the road, private vehicles were moving liberally. Trucks and Lorries were also off the road. With no autos and buses schools and colleges remained shut.
There was confusion galore among the student community in the absence of any concrete decision either by the district administration or by the DDPI on whether schools/colleges remained closed or not. Whenever there is a bandh Mangalore has always faced this kind of dilemma and the same situation was prevalent today also.
Parents were in a quandary not knowing whether to send the children to school/colleges or not. Those students who had gone to schools/colleges in their private vehicles were seen loitering aimlessly in and around the school compound until the management told them to go back to their homes. Within half an hour most students were seen returning home with their parents. Most shop owners and auto drivers were just assessing the situation to resume their daily work and some bold hearts took the extreme step of taking a risk.
As noon approached some autos began to ply and some shopkeepers opened the shutters much to the relief of the public. Hampankatta, the heart of the city was buzzing with activity though it lacked the usual crowd and the acrimony that comes with it. Vegetable market was fully open but business was considerably less. Even the fish market was open but there were very few fishermen in the market. Most medical shops were open and carried on with their regular business. A lone KSRTC bus with handful of passengers was seen going to KSRTC bus stand. Some banks also functioned normally in the city of Mangalore.
Surprisingly most of the wine shops in the city of Mangalore were open and were doing bisque business. With nothing else to do or nowhere else to go, this was the only indulgence men could think of and fortunately for them the business was good.
In Udupi the bandh evoked better response than in Mangalore. Buses and autos are off the road and schools and colleges are shut for the day. A few autos were seen plying on the roads in the noon. Medical shops were open in most part of the city. The bus stand which normally was mad with activity had come to a standstill.
In Kundapur too, the bandh was near normal in the morning with various trade unions descending on the road to protest. Around 350 people had gathered near Shastri Circle who stopped all vehicles plying in the area. Several Lorries and trucks were also forcibly stopped on the road.
It remains to be seen how the coastal districts would respond to the bandh tomorrow. For the daily labourers and those who depend on hotels for food a two-day bandh will be like a curse. With business on the downhill and prices skyrocketing, the general public certainly is not in favour of the bandh, which eventually would lead to inflation.
Says Santhosh Poojary, who owns a vegetable shop in Nanthoor “For us a bandh is a big blow and we cannot earn our daily bread. The vegetables would be rotten in two days and that loss would add to the lack of business in these two days. I don’t understand why people resort to Bandh at a time when leading a normal life itself has become cumbersome”.
The views echoed by Santhosh Poojary find resonance among many other public who feel that a bandh is not the solution to inflation or not the best way to protest. Forcing people to stay indoors against their wish is certainly an infringement on their freedom for free movement. Moreover who will bear the loss to the tune of Rs. 20,000 crores estimated by the bandh?
Whatever said and done, it is the common people who are affected the most. Be it the fishermen, the vegetable vendors, shopkeepers, audo drivers etc., their daily earnings are affected due to bandh.
The time is now ripe for the judiciary steps in and puts an end to this kind of goondagiri and skullduggery in the name of democracy. In reality it is just a political game to gain political mileage and nothing else.
