MSRTC resumes bus services between Kolhapur and Belagavi after protests erupted over border row

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) partially resumed bus services to Karnataka from Kolhapur in southern Maharashtra after consulting local police authorities, an official said here.

The state-owned public transport body had suspended 382 out of 1,156 services to Karnataka, mainly between Kolhapur and Belagavi via Nipani, after protests erupted over the border row between the two states. Some MSRTC buses were defaced in Karnataka. Buses from Karnataka were similarly targeted in Maharashtra.

The MSRTC spokesperson said that normal services between Kolhapur and Belagavi via Nipani restarted from Friday afternoon. The long-pending border dispute between the two states revolves mainly around Belagavi, a border district in Karnataka which Maharashtra claims because of its sizable Marathi-speaking population.