Bus service from Hosur, Salem, Coimbatore and The Nilgiris to Karnataka was halted on Saturday because of the State-wide bandh in Karnataka.
The bandh had a ripple-effect on civic life in Hosur as all Karnataka-bound buses were stopped at the Hosur bus depot, just as the neighbouring State went into a 12-hour bandh condemning Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the Mekadatu project.
The otherwise-crowded Hosur bus depot wore a deserted look as all Tamil Nadu-bound buses were halted at Athibelli, and all Karnataka-bound buses at Hosur.
A few hundred meters away, even as the State border at Athibelli was fortified by a strong police contingent from either side, cadres of the Kannada Rakshana Vedike sat in protest raising slogans against Tamil Nadu . Passengers from Bengaluru and Hosur were seen walking across the border amid heavy police presence. However, auto-rickshaws from Tamil Nadu waited right at the State border behind the police picket to pick up pedestrians. Except two-wheelers and private vehicles from either side of Hosur and Athibelli, no vehicle crossed the State border.
In The Nilgiris, though the season in this vacation destination is in full swing, the flow of weekenders from the Karnataka side was reduced on Saturday. The number of vehicles with Karnataka number plates was conspicuously less .
Police sources said that the Karnataka-bound buses from The Nilgiris and those coming from Karnataka were stopped on either side of the Kakkanullah check-post on Gudalur-Mysore road. Passengers had to alight and walk across the border to board buses to their destinations. The Salem division of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation suspended its services from Mettur town to Madheswaran Hills and Mysuru. TNSTC services to Karnataka via the Palar check-post was suspended since 8 p.m. on Friday. Lorries and other vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration too were not allowed to cross the Palar check-post and the lorries were parked on the roadside inside the Tamil Nadu boundary. Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation operated its services from Mysuru and Madeswaran Hills only up to the Palar check-post on Friday evening.
(with inputs from D. Radhakrishnan, Syed Muthahar Saqaf and M.K. Ananth)