Bangalore, Feb 12 (IANS) Normal life in Karnataka came to a standstill Monday as a 12-hour shutdown to protest last week's Cauvery tribunal order began on a peaceful note, barring a few stray incidents of rail and road blockades.

Protests by Kannada organisations against the final award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal Feb 5 - giving only 270 tmcft water to Karnataka against 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu - included rail and road blockades between Bangalore and Mysore.

The daylong strike, called by social and cultural organisations and backed by all political parties, has turned India's silicon hub into a ghost city, with all IT, BT (biotech) firms, private offices, banks, shops, markets, hotels, theatres, schools and colleges remaining shut.

"The dawn-to-dusk shutdown is going on peacefully. The situation is under control, with prohibitory orders clamped across the city under section 144 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code). As a precautionary measure, we have banned the gathering of more than five people in public places and intersections throughout the city," a top police official told IANS here.

At least 1,000 anti-social elements were arrested Sunday to prevent disturbance and damage to life and property. Though there is an uneasy calm in the sensitive areas where Tamil-speaking people are concentrated, tight security measures, heavy police deployment and mobile patrolling have made troublemakers and rumourmongers lie low," he added.

Public and private transport, including state-owned buses, taxis, maxi-cabs, autos and personal vehicles have stopped plying, leaving the city's main thoroughfares and service roads virtually deserted.

"We have not encountered any trouble from protestors so far. We were forced to take 50 activists of the Karnataka Rakshna Vedike (protection forum) into custody for stopping passengers from entering the airport. Over 100 Vedike activists were arrested at the main railway station, too," said Bangalore additional commissioner Bipin Gopalkrishna.

Airport Authority of India officials confirmed that nine flights belonging to government and private airlines such as Jet, Sahara, Kingfisher and Air Deccan were cancelled till 10 a.m., as those who were to operate and fly could not reach the airport in the absence of transport.

The few passengers who arrived in the city by morning flights were caught unaware and faced hardship leaving the airport.

In the four districts of Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajnagar and Hassan - where the Cauvery river flows - the situation remained tense but under control, as thousands of farmers, agricultural workers and agitators blocked state highways, roads and trains near Maddur, Mandya, Channapatna, Tumkur and Hassan stations.

At Bellary in north Karnataka, the Bangalore-Hubli Hampi Express was stopped from proceeding further soon after the shutdown began. Hundreds of passengers were stranded at stations due to delays and suspension of train services in the Bangalore, Mysore and Hubli divisions of the South Western Railway.

To ensure peaceful observation of the strike and prevent any outbreak of violence, 160 platoons of the state reserved police, paramilitary, rapid action force and railway protection force have been deployed across the state.

As a precautionary measure, a 20,000-strong force is on vigil across the city, picketing, patrolling and preventing protestors and people from gathering and crowding due to the ban order in force.

State and central government offices, public sector undertakings in defence, space, electronics, manufacturing and research and development centres opened officially but reported thin attendance, as their employees could not commute from their homes.