In Karnataka, businesspeople and owners of small businesses are going on a daylong bandh to protest the recent increase in the price of power. The Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in Hubballi issued the call for a one-day “bandh.” Little brokers, business houses, and industrialists are taking out fights across the Congress-controlled Karnataka requesting a rollback of the power duty climb.
The state government began the registration process for the “Gruha Jyoti” scheme, which provides up to 200 units of free electricity for residential connections, earlier this week, which coincides with their protests.
The industrialists and traders marched through the district headquarters in Hubballi-Dharwad, Shivamogga, Belagavi, Ballari, Vijayanagar, Davangere, and Koppal, among other places, armed with placards, banners, and posters. They yelled slogans and demanded that the government reduce the increase. With banners and placards, a large number of traders and owners of small and micro industries marched up to the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Belagavi.
Sandeep Bidasaria, the acting president of KCCI, asserted that the rise in power tariffs of between 50 and 70 percent has had a significant impact on small businesses. A protester in Belagavi, a city that borders Maharashtra, claimed that many businesses planned to relocate to the neighboring state due to the significant tariff increase.
In response to the bandh call, numerous shops closed and small industries stopped producing in several parts of the state. Following the Bandh, many shops were closed in the town of Bidar, the district headquarters, and the main market appeared deserted.