Bengaluru–Mysuru road limps back to life after days of protests

With roadblocks in Mandya cleared, KSRTC resumes bus services between the two cities

A KSRTC bus departing from the Mandya bus stationon Saturday.

The Cauvery basin district of Mandya, which was rocked by agitations for five days following the Supreme Court direction to Karnataka on release of water to Tamil Nadu, limped back to normality on Saturday.

This resulted in the highway between Mysuru and Bengaluru coming back to life and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) resuming normal bus operations.

Through Mandya

A cautious KSRTC started plying buses in the morning via Kirangur (near Srirangapatna), Malavalli, Maddur, Channapatna, and Ramanagaram, but by evening allowed buses via Mandya town, which was the heart of Cauvery protests, as roadblocks were cleared.

Also, bus services have been restored to most cities in Tamil Nadu from Mysuru and there have been no reports of interruptions at the border, according to KSRTC officials.

A KSRTC officer at the central bus station told

The Hindu that all scheduled trips between Mysuru and Bengaluru were running normally, and buses, including multi-axel Airavat and other luxury services, were being operated.

Services to Chennai, which had been stopped, had also been resumed, he added. The officer said services to Coimbatore and Ooty, which had been suspended following protests near Punajanur and Begur, had started again.

From Bengaluru

However, buses plying to Tamil Nadu from Bengaluru continued to be partially affected, with the road transport corporations on both sides yet to resume operations fully. Private vehicles, however, have resumed plying between the two States via Hosur, said Bengaluru city Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh.