Karnataka buses blackened, drivers harassed in Maharashtra

BELAGAVI, CHIKKODI: With tensions flaring up again between Karnataka and Maharashtra over the language issue, drivers of NWKRTC are being targeted by Shiv Sena (UBT) cadres with buses being blackened in the neighbouring state and drivers being forced to say ‘Jai Maharashtra’.

In Pune, two buses of NWKRTC, one plying from Pune-Indi-Sindagi and another plying from Mumbai to Ilkal, were stopped and all the Kannada letters on the buses, including the destination nameboards and number plates, were blackened by Shiv Sena (UBT) activists on Sunday night.

In Solapur town, the driver of a bus Solapur to Ilkal, was garlanded, smeared with vermillion and forced to chant ‘Jai Maharashtra, Jai Karnataka’. The Shiv Sena (UBT) men also painted ‘Jai Maharashtra’ on the windscreen of the bus.

Meanwhile, after a two-day suspension, bus services between the two states were resumed briefly on Monday before being suspended again. Bus services were suspended after buses were blackened in Kolhapur and Pune. Every day, about 120 services are run to Maharahstra through Nipani.

Bus servises to Kolhapur, Pune and Mumbai have suspended and the buses are being run only up to the state border. People travelling to the neighbouring state and opting for private vehicles frpom the border.