Karnataka, Maharashtra bus services affected as border row flares up in Belagavi

As the border row in Belagavi flared-up after a KSRTC bus conductor was allegedly assaulted, Karnataka and Maharashtra have suspended their bus services.

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, PTI reported.

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. A group of youth 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 retaliation, miscreants blackened and assaulted a bus driver of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) Bhaskar Jadhav at Guyilal in Hiriyur Taluk of Chitradurga district on Saturday.

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

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

This led the KSRTC to also minimise the bus services to Maharashtra following the incident.