A 12-hour statewide bandh called by the pro-Kannada groups to protest the alleged assault on a state-run bus conductor in Belagavi last month for not knowing Marathi began in Karnataka on Saturday morning amid tight security.

On February 28, ‘Kannada Okkuta,’ an umbrella organisation representing various pro-Kannada groups, announced the statewide bandh from 6 am to 6 pm on March 22.