Mysuru: Over a thousand students from different PU and Degree Colleges staged a massive demonstration in the city this morning, seeking free bus passes to all school and college students.

The stir was in response to a State-wide school and college bandh call given by Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO), All India Democratic Youth Organisation (AIDYO) and All India Mahila Samskrutika Sanghatane (AIMSS).

Students from Maharani’s, Maharaja’s, Marimallappa and other colleges, who converged near Ramaswamy Circle after bunking classes, sat on a dharna, blocking the Geetha Road leading from the Circle to Hotel Airlines for over two hours.

Accusing the JD(S)-Congress coalition government of backtracking on a promise made in the previous budget, the protestors raised slogans against the government for not issuing free bus passes for all categories of students as promised in the then CM Siddharamaiah’s budget presented in Feb. 2018.

Arguing that while the previous Congress government had made an announcement in the budget to provide free bus passes to students of all communities and that the present JD(S)-Congress coalition government was now backtracking on the promise, the students maintained that the CM and some Ministers in the new government were passing the buck over the issue, which has led to confusion among the student community.

Alleging that elected representatives from the ruling dispensation were not raising their voice against this injustice to the students, the protestors threatened to intensify the agitation if their demand was not met.

Even as the students blocked the busy Geetha Road causing traffic disruption, the Police had a tough time in diverting traffic.

However, the protest passed off peacefully, with no untoward incidents. Police had provided tight security.

P.S. Sandhya and G.S. Seema of AIMSS, Basavaraju, H.M. Chandrakala, Akash Kumar, Ashiya Begum of AIDSO, B.R. Sunil, Suma, Kalavathi, Avinash and others led the demo.