Movement of buses across the Karnataka-Maharashtra border was stopped on Wednesday December 7, following protests by activists on both sides over the border dispute.
A KSRTC official said that services of as many as 250 buses of Chikkodi depot and 80 from Belagavi depot were stopped. NWKRTC officers say around 150 buses from Maharashtra had not crossed into Karnataka.
Most of the MSRTC buses from Maharashtra to Belagavi were stopped too.
Explained | What is the Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute?
This caused a lot of inconvenience to commuters in Belagavi, who were seen waiting for hours in the central bus stand.
Shirish Deshpande, a resident of Sadashiv Nagar, was waiting for a bus from Belagavi to Vijayapura in Karnataka to go further to Solapur in Maharashtra to attend a relative’s wedding. Other people were waiting to board buses to towns in Maharashtra for medical treatment or to visit markets, to attend school or college, or to report for work in factories, or even to meet relatives or attend family functions.
On any given day, officials estimate, around 400 KSRTC buses go to Maharashtra and around 170 MSRTC buses enter Karnataka.
The stopping of the movement of buses followed protests in Hire Bagewadi in Belagvi district where Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists stoned vehicles, blackened glasses and removed number plates. This provoked protests in Kolhapur in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena (UT) activists damaging or vandalising KSRTC buses.
Due to the freeze on the movement of buses, NWKRTC was expected to lose revenue of around ₹20 lakh per day in Chikkodi and ₹10 lakh per day in Belagavi, said K.K. Lamani, divisional transport officer. Around 10 buses were damaged or vandalised in Maharashtra. “We are willing to operate buses from today evening if the situation returns to normal,” he said.
Belagavi police were yet to get a written complaint from the KSRTC about this.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has condemned the attack on buses and asked Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to ensure safe passage for buses of Maharashtra.
NCP founder Sharad Pawar set a deadline of 24 hours to stop such attacks, and warned that he would travel to Belagavi if the attacks did not stop. Supriya Sule, NCP MP, raised the issue in Parliament on Wednesday, and sought a response from Union Home minister Amit Shah.
Mr. Bommai said that he has spoken to his counterpart in Maharashtra Eknath Shindhe to ensure that peace prevails across the border.
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