Bengaluru, DHNS: Cauvery row: Bengaluru wears deserted look, Section 144 to continue till further orders. A day after rioting and arson, Bengaluru on Tuesday remained by and large peaceful, barring a few stray incidents.

However, curfew was extended in the western and south-eastern parts of the city till further orders.

On Monday, protests over the Cauvery issue turned violent with fringe elements setting 78 vehicles on fire and damaging 44 others. A youth was killed in police firing.

The city wore a deserted look with businesses and private companies, including tech majors Wipro, Infosys among others, downing their shutters as a precautionary measure.

Transport services were also hit as Namma Metro, BMTC and KSRTC resumed operations only by late evening. Very few autorickshaws and cabs were seen on the roads.

People remained indoors as tension prevailed in some areas like Hegganahalli in Rajagopalnagar and Sunkadakatte on Magadi Road.

The district administration has said schools and colleges will function in curfew-free areas. But several educational institutions have declared a holiday to prevent any untoward incidents.

However, Additional Commissioner (West) K S?R Charan Reddy told DH, “Educational institutions, offices and businesses will remain shut and public transport will not operate in the curfew-bound areas.”

The police said they would take a call on lifting the curfew early on Wednesday morning.

The government has decided to deploy additional central forces in the city and continue prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC till further orders. Police Commissioner N S Megarikh said around 600 people have been arrested in connection with Monday’s violence.

Meanwhile, Kumar (32), a construction worker who had sustained injuries after falling from the third floor of a building while trying to escape police action, died in a private hospital on Tuesday.

There were tense moments when family members of the deceased and a few pro-Kannada groups staged a protest in front of the hospital.

A goods carrier was set on fire at Rajagopalnagar and an SRS Travels bus was set ablaze in New Timber Layout on Mysuru Road on Tuesday.

The police escorted a few Tamil Nadu vehicles up to the border at Attibele.

In Mysuru and Mandya and in other Cauvery basin districts, the situation remained tense but under control.

In Srirangapatna taluk, two vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration numbers – a concrete mixer and an excavator – were torched by protesters.

In Malavalli, a jeep belonging to the sericulture department was torched.

Members of Cauvery Hitarakshana Vedike, defying the prohibitory orders, blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. The police, however, took them into custody after which the bus services resumed.