Karnataka Maharashtra Border Row: Bus Services Temporarily Stopped After Attack On Marathis

Bus services have been stopped between Karnataka and Maharashtra's Kolhapur from today morning on suggestions by the Police as language issue is being raised in Kolhapur and at other places.

(Representative Image/Getty)

Mumbai: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Saturday temporarily suspended its operations to Kolhapur in Maharashtra which has a substantial Kannada population in view of the ongoing border row between the two states.

As per reports, bus services have been stopped between Karnataka and Maharashtra's Kolhapur from today morning on suggestions by the Police as language issue is being raised in Kolhapur and at other places.

Several political leaders in Maharashtra have been demanding the merger of the regions dominated by Marathi-speaking people in Karnataka, especially Belagavi, which the pro-Kannada organisations have been opposing.

The tension also resulted in a vehicle belonging to Maharashtra being blackened in Belagavi which further aggravated the condition. 

"The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation officials had asked us if there was tension in Kolhapur and asked us not to run any buses. They too did not run any bus," a senior officer in the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation told news agency PTI.

Meanwhile, alleging that Marathi people residing in Karnataka's Belgaum were being victimised, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut aland said an all-party delegation from Maharashtra should visit the city in the neighbouring state to resolve the ongoing impasse.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had been raising the issue of merger of Belagavi and other Marathi- dominated regions with Maharashtra time and again.

Shiv Sena also alleged that over the last few days there have been instances of attack on its leaders and the party's office in Belgaum by pro-Kannada outfits.