The Palakkad M.L.A Shafi Parambil will hold talks with the District Collector, Superintendent of Police and the representatives of the employees unions of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) here on Friday to resume bus services between Palakkad and Coimbatore that remained suspended for the last four days due to the attack on some buses.
Though the district administrations took steps to give protection to the buses from Kerala there were some incidents of stoning some of them in Coimbatore side taken on convoy with police protection.
This had resulted in the KSRTC drivers and conductors refusing to operate the buses to Coimbatore.
Then it was suggested to operate the bus services up to the Walayar inter-state border by both the State owned transport corporations.
But the KSRTC authorities did not give the permission to Palakkad KSRTC depot to operate buses up to Walayar as it is said to be not economical for them.
This had made things difficult for thousands of daily commuters between these two border districts. Large number of people from Palakkad are going to Coimbatore and Tirupur for work in textile and other companies and offices.
The vehicular traffic between the Palakkad and Coimbatore were suspended on Wednesday due to the blockade of the main check posts to Kerala from Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam row by the activists of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK).
In the Palakkad-Coimbatore border the MDMK activists blocked the K.G. Chavadi check post at Tamil Nadu side, Nadupuni check post in Chittur in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border and the Anakkatti check post at Attappady in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
The traffic was expected to be resumed on Thursday but the police authorities here said that it will be resumed only after the talks between the district administrations of Palakkad and Coimbatore on providing adequate security.
District Collector K.V. Mohan Kumar has said that he is holding discussions with his counter part in Coimbatore to resume the bus services between Palakkad and Coimbatore and also to other parts of Tamil Nadu.
He said that rumours are spread by some vested interests about attack on buses plying between the two States. But there were only one or two minor isolated incidents.
He said that protection will be given to all Sabarimala pilgrims passing through the District from Tamil Nadu.
Economy and food security
However the suspension of vehicular traffic has started affecting the economy of both the States.
The farmers in Tamil Nadu are not able to sell their products to Kerala. This is resulting in heavy loss to them. Large quantity of perishable goods like vegetables and banana are getting destroyed.
At the same time Palakkad and other districts of Kerala are facing acute shortage for vegetables and other food products as Tamil Nadu is the main source of supply to Kerala.
