Maharashtra stops bus services to Karnataka after border row flares up

The Maharashtra State  Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has stopped its bus services to Karnataka on advice of the Maharashtra home department in the wake of the border row which has now created a huge uproar in the political circle of Maharashtra and Karnataka.All MSRTC buses going to Karnataka from different districts, mainly Kolhapur and Sangli, have been stopped by the transport body from today afternoon, on advise of the police, Shekhar Channe, the vice chairman and managing director of MSRTC has said. Around 15 to 20 buses of MSRTC go to Karnataka, mainly Belagavi.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday termed the situation in the border areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka as "worrisome", and said time has come to take a stand after seeing what is happening there. Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai, appointed for coordinating the state's border dispute with Karnataka, were earlier scheduled to meet activists of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti at Belagavi in the southern state on Tuesday and hold talks with them on the decades-old border issue. However, the visit has now being pushed to another date. On Tuesday, a protest by the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike – a pro-Kannada organisation – against the proposed visit of two Maharashtra ministers to Belagavi, turned violent. However, the ministers postponed their visit after the Karnataka chief minister said their arrival may create a law and order situation in the district.