Karnataka - Belgaum   

For them, it means loss of a day's wages

Vijaykumar Patil

No work for vendors, labourers for fourth consecutive day Labourers and vendors will have no work for the fourth consecutive day

Belgaum: It has been three days without work or wages for 68-year-old Siddappa Charakappa Talwar. Yet, since there is no point remaining indoors, he was out with his "haath gadi" (hand cart) in the hope of finding some "coolie" in Khadebazaar- the main marketing centre in the city on Tuesday, a weekly holiday for majority of traders in the city. He is aware that the situation would be no different on Wednesday too in view of the Karnataka bandh.

Siddappa, a Kannada-speaking resident of Belgaum, who transports goods in his cart, could not get any work on Sunday and Monday on account of Ayudha Puja and Dasara. Wednesday would be the fourth consecutive day without wages for Siddappa and thousands of daily wage workers, vendors and petty shop owners like him all over the city and State.

Asked whether he knew the reason for the bandh, Siddappa said: "I don't know. Some Maharashtra problem."

A Marathi-speaking shopowner said: "The Government is only trying to divert attention of the people from `that CD'. It held Legislature session and is now using Kannada organisations to organise the bandh." "Does the Government have any idea about the hardships labourers and vendors will have to face?" he said. A few Marathi shopkeepers said they would keep their shops open and would later decide on whether to down the shutters depending upon the situation.

Many Kannada-speaking traders and businessmen feel they have to support the bandh lest they be dubbed "anti-Karnataka".

However, there are many who have decided to support the bandh as they feel it has been organised for the cause of Kannada-speaking people living in Belgaum and border areas. "If we do not support our own cause, who else will," asks a pan shop owner.

"Business has no language, religion or caste," says a hotelier. The Government and people organising such bandhs should think before taking up such issues as business in Belgaum city was on the decline for over four years and a bandh means another day of loss, the hotelier said.

Belgaum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) president Vikas Kalghatagi said the BCCI had taken a stand not to associate with any bandh. In the present case, it had left the decision to individual industrialists and businessman, he said.

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