Bengaluru, Sep 10: The day-long nationwide shutdown or Bharat bandh on Monday against rising fuel prices called by the Congress affected normal life in Karnataka as public transport kept off the roads across the state.

"There is an overwhelming response from the public to our shutdown call as petrol and diesel price hike affects all, especially the poor," a Congress spokesman told IANS here.

Schools and colleges were closed although state and central government offices remained open.

In Bengaluru, global software firms like Infosys and Wipro functioned normally.

With the ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) supporting its ally Congress on the bandh, their cadres as well as activists of the pro-Kannada organisations like Kannada Vedica Paksha (KVP) were seen forcing restaurants, shops and fuel stations to remain shut at least till 3 p.m.

Many theatres, multiplexes and malls did not open for business. Bank transactions were hit.

"We have not opened for business for the day to avoid damage to our property caused by frenzied mobs," a tea vendor told IANS here.

The shutdown, however, did not affect flight or train services in Bengaluru and Mysuru though passengers faced harrowing time at the airport and railway stations in the absence of buses, cabs and autos.

About 1,000 cadres and supporters of the JD-S and Congress staged a massive demonstration at the Town Hall here and took out a protest rally to the Freedom Park through main roads, which had less vehicular traffic on a working day due to the shutdown.

Emergency services, including hospitals and medical shops, were exempted from the bandh.

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Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu), Apr 4 (PTI): A nutritious meal cook and another person were arrested by the police on Friday for thrashing a class V student with broom, here, after the child demanded egg, the state government said.

A video of the purported incident has gone viral, where the boy is seen being beaten up with a broom by the two.

Social Welfare and Women Rights Minister, P Geetha Jeevan, made it clear the Stalin-led government will not tolerate any act of violence against children.

In a social media update, Jeevan said the incident happened at a primary school in Polur union in the district where the cook Lakshmi and an assistant, Muniammal "beat up a student who asked for an egg as part of the nutritious meal."

They were suspended on April 3 and later, criminal action was initiated against them and the two were arrested, she said.

A state government release said an enquiry was initiated following the viral video and after departmental action, the two women were booked under relevant sections of BNS and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and subsequently arrested.