The Karnataka government, which had closed 13 interstate roads with Kerala and had insisted that people from the State should produce COVID-19-negative certificates to cross the border, temporarily lifted the restrictions on Tuesday.
The neighbouring State had imposed restrictions on the Karnataka-Kerala border in the wake of increasing COVID-19 cases in Kerala. However, following protests in Kasaragod district and the intervention of political parties, a decision was taken to temporarily lift the restrictions.
Dakshina Kannada district health chief S.K. Ramachandra Bairy said the decision was taken considering the fact that passengers needed time to get the RT-PCR certificates. The Karnataka government ruled that COVID-19-negative certificates were not mandatory for two days.
Earlier, the Karnataka government had made production of RT-PCR-negative certificates issued within 72 hours mandatory to cross the border check-posts. Based on this, 13 roads to the State from Kerala were closed. Only the Mangaluru-Thalappadi, Jalsur-Sullia, Sardka-Bantwal and Nettanige-Puthur roads were kept open. This led to widespread protests at the border and the protesters had altercations with the Karnataka inspection team. The protesters blocked vehicles from Karnataka also.
Karnataka has now come up with new proposals, including setting up of antigen testing facilities on all major roads, including the Thalappadi National Highway. Passengers from Kerala will be allowed to enter the State after antigen tests.
