Thanks to stepped up security, the border areas remained peaceful without any untoward incidents. Western Tamil Nadu shares borders with Karnataka at four places – the Kakkanallah zero point in the Nilgiris district, Hassanur in Erode district, Zuzuvadi near Hosur and at another location near Mettur. As a matter of precaution, transport officials had suspended inter-State bus services, while private vehicles remained off road.
High drama was witnessed at Zuzuvadi from the break of dawn till late evening hours on Friday, with police personnel of both the States restricting movement of vehicles.
Since the early hours of Friday, inter-State buses of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) and the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) were operated only up to Hosur. The TNSTC operated town buses from the Hosur bus stand up to Zuzuvadi.
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The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), which operated a few services to Hosur in the morning hours, later suspended them as soon as the verdict was pronounced.
After 10.30 a.m., the police of both the States installed barricades on the national highway and suspended the traffic.
However, vehicles with other State registration numbers moved freely and crossed the border without any restriction.
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Cross-border walk
People who arrived from Bengaluru by KSRTC buses and who were heading for destinations in Tamil Nadu got down at Athipalli and walked about 500 m to catch TNSTC buses. Similarly, people heading to Bengaluru got down from the TNSTC buses and walked up to the Karnataka border to board the waiting KSRTC buses.
Fear of attacks
The TNSTC and the KSRTC had suspended their inter-state services via River Palar border in Kolathur block near Mettur in Salem district. The TNSTC operated its regular services from Salem and Mettur only up to the Palar border; so did the KSRTC.
In Erode, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka registered vehicles were stopped at Pulinjur check post, near Hassanur, and were prevented from crossing State boundaries fearing attacks.
Speaking to The Hindu , K. Radhakrishnan, ADSP, Nilgiris, said that the police had stopped Karnataka-registered vehicles from crossing into the Nilgiris and Tamil Nadu vehicles entering Karnataka as a precautionary measure to prevent the vehicles being targeted by fringe groups.
Being a Friday, the amount of tourist traffic from Karnataka had seen a noticeable increase since morning. However, the police began stopping vehicles from Karnataka, including cars, motorcycles, buses and even vehicles carrying freight, from entering the Nilgiris.
Even TNSTC and SETC buses were stopped on the Tamil Nadu side of the border, while KSRTC buses were stopped on the other side. Passengers were then made to alight, cross the border and board the buses waiting on the other side and continue their journey.
(With inputs from Syed Muthahar from Hosur and Mettur, S.P. Saravanan from Hassanur in Erode and Rohan Premkumar from Kakkanallah in the Nilgiris.)