For the third consecutive day, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu registered vehicles were stopped at the Kakanallah check post and were prevented from crossing state boundaries due to the continuing unrest over the Cauvery River.
Essential goods
However, essential goods such as LPG cylinders, headed towards Gudalur, and milk, were allowed into Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
On Wednesday,a vehicle carrying milk arrived at the check post from Karnataka. The police stopped the vehicle at the border and allowed the load to be transferred to another lorry with a Tamil Nadu registration from where it was taken to Gudalur. Similar procedures were followed with a load of LPG cylinders.
“As both milk and LPG are essential supplies, we were instructed to allow them to stop at the check post. The goods were transferred onto Tamil Nadu registered trucks and taken for distribution,” a police official told The Hindu .
Tourists flow
The flow of tourists crossing into Tamil Nadu had also decreased considerably on Wednesday, with mostly visitors from Kerala making up the numbers.
Small businesses, such as vegetable store owners seemed to be the hardest ones hit by the continued closure.
K Nagarajan, a vegetable seller from Kotagiri, said that he has been forced to hire Kerala-registered vehicles to transport the produce from Karnataka to the Kakanallah check post.
Kerala vehicles
“Usually, it would cost us just Rs. 3,000 for a complete trip. But the Kerala vehicles charge the same amount of money to bring the produce to the border from Karnataka, from where we would have to transfer the load and take it to Kotagiri” he said.
Vegetable vendors in Kotagiri and Gudalur depend on the Gundlupet market to procure tomatos, green chillies and other produce. With the temporary, enforced blockade, prices of certain vegetables have seen a sizeable increase, he added.
