44 Flights Cancelled Amid Karnataka Bandh; Chaos at Bengaluru Airport
Flights from Bhopal to Pune and Kolkata on hold
Bengaluru International Airport saw as many as 44 flight cancellations on Friday as the state-wide Bandh was called by the Kannada umbrella organisation Kannada Okkuta to oppose the release of water from the Cauvery River to the neighbouring Tamil Nadu state.Â
As per further information, the flights were cancelled for operational reasons and the passengers were notified of the same in a timely manner. All the scheduled flights to the metro cities of New Delhi and Kolkata as well as Mumbai have been cancelled.
The activists bought tickets for Indigo flight 7731 and reached the airport in Bengaluru at 9:50 am with the intention of staging a protest at the spot where the flight was scheduled to take off. However, the authorities detained the activists as they were about to hold a protest. The activists were arrested and were handed over to the police. The airline then decided to cancel the flights to the metro cities of New Delhi and Kolkata as well as to Mumbai.
Normal life came to a grinding halt, particularly in the southern parts of the state. Karnataka Okkuta is a group of organisations belonging to the farmers organizations that have called for a ‘Karnataka Bandh’.
The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Kannada Chalavali (Vatal Paksha) and various farmers associations have called for a statewide shutdown from dawn to dusk.
