Hogenakkal protests spread; 8 TNSETC buses stoned

Hogenakkal protests spread; 8 TNSETC buses stoned

Special Correspondent

Cable TV provider attacked in Bangalore

— Photo: KPN

Targeted: The TNSETC buses that were damaged by Vedike activists on Hosur Road in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE/GULBARGA/MYSORE: The protests by various Kannada groups against Tamil Nadu’s decision to take up a drinking water project at Hogenakkal took a violent turn in the State on Thursday.

Protesters stoned eight buses of the Tamil Nadu State Express Transport Corporation (TNSETC) on the Bangalore-Hosur highway and also the office of a cable television network in Bangalore.

In another incident reported from Maddur in Mandya district, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists damaged four vehicles, including two lorries, bearing Tamil Nadu registration. Four passengers were injured when protesters smashed windscreens of a private bus, owned by a person of Tamil Nadu origin, on the outskirts of Gulbarga.

Vedike activists stopped a TNSETC bus on Mysore Road in Bangalore, and daubed black paint on its windscreens. The police have arrested 50 persons in connection with the three incidents reported from Bangalore.

Advocates in Mysore boycotted courts on Thursday to protest against the alleged ransacking of a restaurant, owned by a Kannadiga, in Chennai on Wednesday.
Road blocked

Around 1 p.m. protesters blocked the Bangalore-Hosur highway near Attibele on the outskirts of the city and stoned the stranded buses. Eight buses that were bound for Tamil Nadu were damaged and a driver suffered minor injuries, Bangalore Rural district Superintendent of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash told The Hindu.

The Attibele police arrested nine people and seized two multi-utility vehicles and two two-wheelers from them. Alternative travel arrangements were made for the passengers of the buses and vehicular movement was restored on the highway, he said.

Meanwhile, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police on Thursday discussed measures to ensure smooth and safe movement of inter-State vehicles. Mr. Vikash and his Krishnagiri district counterpart C.C. Kanmozhi held a meeting at the Attibele police station, the last Karnataka police station on the inter-State border.

Vedike activists hurled stones at the office of a cable television network situated on Double Road in a bid to stop it relaying Tamil channels. When the police stopped the protesters from barging into the In-Cable office, situated on the third floor of a commercial complex, they hurled stones at the building and damaged its glass panes.

The Sampangiramanagar police registered a case and arrested 36 persons on charges of rioting and damaging public property, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) B.N.S. Reddy said. He denied the reports that the cable network belongs to a Tamil Nadu politician and said it was owned by Shiv Kumar Wadhwa, a Bangalore resident.

In view of the protesters mainly targeting TNSETC buses, the police have heightened security at the Kempegowda bus station and the Satellite bus terminal on Mysore Road, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) P. Harisekharan said.