Strikes close Indian tech capital

Bangalore is home to more than 1,500 technology firms

Workers striking over a regional border dispute have brought Bangalore, India's equivalent of Silicon Valley, to a standstill.

Offices, schools and government sites were shut as activists staged a 12-hour stoppage in the state of Karnataka.

The dispute centres on Belgaum, a town 500km north of Bangalore and claimed by both Karnataka and the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.

It began soon after India gained independence nearly sixty years ago.

More than 1,500 Indian and multinational technology firms like Hewlett Packard, Dell, Microsoft, IBM, Infosys and Wipro have offices in Bangalore.

Peaceful demonstration

Most of them were closed as companies feared a repeat of the violence that hit the city last April, when people rioted for two days following the death of film legend Rajkumar.

Kannada activists holding the state's yellow and red flags marched through the state capital of Bangalore shouting slogans, but police said the strike has so far been peaceful.

"The strike is going on very well all across the state," said L. Byrappa, president of the Karnataka Government Employee's Association.

"All works in government departments have come to a complete standstill."

A spokeswoman for Infosys, India's second largest software exporter, said the firm had closed its three Bangalore sites but would make up for lost production by working an extra day later in the month.

The government recently approved plans to build a new $1.5bn (£783m) metro system to ease traffic problems in the city, one of the fastest growing in Asia.

A $500m superhighway project linking Bangalore with Mysore is also under construction.