Border row flares up in Belagavi affecting bus services between Karnataka - Maharashtra

Bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra have been affected due to attack on bus drivers from both sides amid the sudden flare-up of border row in Belagavi in the last two days.

The decades-old dispute resurfaced on Friday when a bus driver and a conductor were beaten up for allegedly not speaking in Marathi at Marihal in Belagavi.

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The bus conductor stated in his police complaint that a girl asked for a ticket in Marathi. When he said he did not know Marathi and asked her to speak in Kannada, she and her male friend attacked him.

At Marihal, a group of youths intercepted the bus and beat up the conductor.

While police arrested four people for the attack, the conductor has also been booked for 'indecent behaviour' with the minor girl on a complaint filed by the girl, Belagavi Police Commissioner Yada Martin Marbaniang told reporters.

In a retaliatory act, miscreants attacked and blackened a bus driver of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) Bhaskar Jadhav at Guyilal in Hiriyur Taluk of Chitradurga district on Saturday.

Police have arrested a few who were allegedly involved in the crime.

Following the incident, the Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik on Saturday ordered the suspension of the state transport buses to Karnataka. Sarnaik said the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus, which was plying from Bengaluru to Mumbai, was attacked in Chitradurga around 9.10 pm on Friday by pro-Kannada activists.

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On Sunday an ultra-luxury bus belonging to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) was disfigured with slogans like 'Jai Maharashtra', 'Marathi' and 'Maharashtra Navnirman Sena' written on it with black paint.

The KSRTC has also minimised the bus services to Maharashtra following the incident.

"We have limited the number of buses going to Maharashtra for the time being and are taking all precautions to normalise the situation," a senior officer in the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) told PTI.

He said he was in touch with his Maharashtra counterpart to ensure smooth bus services between the two states.

Also, the bus conductor has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act following a complaint lodged by the girl.

Belagavi has a substantial Marathi population and a section among them often demands that this border district be merged with Maharashtra.

The Karnataka government and the local Kannada populace stoutly oppose this demand.

To assert its might, the Karnataka government has constructed Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi where once in a year it holds the legislative session.