As the city braces for the All-India bandh on Friday, concern is rife amongst office-goers and parents of schoolchildren.

As the city braces for the All-India bandh on Friday, concern is rife amongst office-goers and parents of schoolchildren.

With a majority of autos likely to be off roads and with the high possibility of cabs following suit, school bus operators have already announced that they will be on strike.

The BMTC and KSRTC have yet to decide whether they will be operating on Friday.

While in the past, a total transport strike of this sort was an exception, of late it is becoming the rule in Bengaluru. This is the fifth transport bandh in the last couple of months, and brand Bengaluru is all set to take a severe beating once again. Is Karnataka heading the way of West Bengal and Kerala, which used to witness such strikes with alarming regularity?

Over the last two days, HR personnel in tech companies have been drawing up lists of essential staff that needs to be in office on Friday to run the show and are busy making special arrangements to ferry them to and from work. Some companies have even offered staff a "work-from-home" option.

"Many cab operators have told us that they won't be on the roads. Now, we are worried about transport. There is an indication that taxi aggregators and BMTC/KSRTC may also join the protests, and if so, the situation becomes critical. We are trying to make efforts to ensure smooth travel for our staff," said an HR official from a top city-based company.

Friday's bandh is also a dampener for those who planned to use the long weekend to travel. Many were planning to leave the city on Friday and tried to book tickets.

However, transport corporation officers are refusing to take bookings, saying they are unsure of buses plying on that day. The city's technocrats and entrepreneurs believe that brand Bengaluru will take a hit. S Babu, co-chairman of Assocham, said, "The only reason Bengaluru is the IT capital of India is that it is able to thrive away from the red-tapism prevalent in the power corridors of the North. Secondly, the negative face of unionism has been rejected in its own bastion West Bengal, where the chief minister has denied participation in Friday's protests. If the unions are serious about labour rights, they should sit and discuss the matter with government representatives, instead of forcing the country to a standstill. From an investors' point of view, I don't support a protest that will have an adverse impact on rather than benefit the country."

Outer Ring Road Companies' Association (Orrca) honorary president, Captain Poornaprajna, said that in a democracy, everyone had the right to protest, but what was going against such strikes was the culture of violence.

"There is nothing wrong in pressing one's demands and usually a bandh is the last resort for any union. A bandh is called when all avenues of negotiation close and the aggrieved party wants to pressure the government. During the previous few bandhs, protestors resorted to violence and that has had a negative impact on the city's image and also exposed the bad policing in the state," he said.

Biocon CMD, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, said that though people had the right to protest, it didn't give them the freedom to hold the whole system to ransom.

"A protest should have a window for dialogue, and if the government is offering such a platform union leaders should make use of it and resolve the issues through discussion, rather than shutting down the whole country and thereby incurring a huge loss for the economy. If the whole city was supporting and marching for a cause it is understandable, but forcing others to participate in a protest is not healthy and it clearly depicts that it is being done at the behest of a handful of people who are trying to exploit the situation in their favour. The regular strikes and protests will hamper Brand Bengaluru, which represents growth and development," she added.

According to industry experts, the city is set to lose hundreds of crores when it comes to a standstill. D Muralidhar, former president FKCCI, said that though it is tough to quantify the losses incurred due to a bandh, a simple calculation showed that the per day revenue generated by the city alone was around Rs120-140 crore and a day's strike will result in zero revenue.

Also, Bengaluru is more of a service-based industrial city and the bandh was being called by workers who are mostly associated with manufacturing. Hence the city will suffer the brunt of a strike for which it will gain nothing. Many state governments are mulling not participating in the bandh as these are counterproductive measures, but in Karnataka the ruling party is also indirectly supporting it for political gains, but this kind of politics is not going to help and support development. It is time to introspect and get away from the bandh culture," he added.

T V Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education, said, "This is a relic of the past in the organised sector that has now come back to haunt the unorganised sector and the city of Bengaluru. Strikes are the reason that many industries in the country failed and now trade unions, in their desperation to show power, are holding the whole city to ransom and for Friday's strike, the whole nation. Brand Bengaluru, obviously, is at the receiving end with a weak government, which in the face of adversity has abdicated its responsibility to take a strong stand against such political gimmickry that in turn bleeds the city of its revenue. It is time Bengalureans stand united and oppose these blackmailing tactics being used by union leaders and prove to them that this city lives by its work."

Recurring Bandhs, city schools suffer

Many schools in the city will be forced to remain closed on September 2. However, the worrying factor for schools is that the frequent bandhs have resulted in most of them not completing their syllabus. The schools, still reeling from previous bandhs, have had no option but to make Saturdays 'full days'. "After losing three working days last month to various bandhs and strikes, we had to start functioning on Saturdays to make up for the lost classes. Now, we have another bandh to handle," says Mansoor Ali Khan, member of the Board of Management, DPS Bengaluru. Stating that management would finalise the decision to declare a holiday only on the eve of the bandh, Mansoor added that it is near impossible to function on Friday.

"Most students depend on autorickshaws and other such means of transport. If they are on strike, we will be forced to declare a holiday. As for school bus transportation, we have outsourced the same and if they are on strike that would also be a problem," he says.

"We can't keep closing schools for every bandh and strike," says Nooraine Fazal , managing trustee & CEO, Inventure Academy, adding that it is difficult to cope with the loss such days bring to teaching and learning time.

"Every year when we plan the academic calendar, we set aside two days as a buffer, to handle bandhs and strikes that may come up. However, this academic year, we are already past the two days," she says. As the school has private transport, it is only the safety aspect they are worried about. "If there are no marked safety issues, then we will by all means function," she says.

On being asked about the impact of such recurrent bandhs and strikes on education, Shashi Kumar D, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), said that "the school fraternity is really disturbed. This will directly affect the children's academic performance and we strongly condemn such bandhs. "

In a circular directed to schools associated with the organisation, KAMS has directed that school managements can declare a holiday on September 2, in the best interest of students, parents, teaching and non-teaching staff. They, however, advise that the schools compensate for this holiday by working two full days on any two Saturdays in the month of September. Classes can be conducted if no student or staffs is dependent on transport and there are no safety concerns, the circular directs. Meanwhile, Bangalore University has cancelled its examinations scheduled for September 2. The second year BA and BCom exam scheduled for Friday have been deferred to September 6, while the second year BBM exam will be held on September 7.

