A tense situation is prevailing on the Kerala-Karnataka border ever since inter-State roads were blocked by Karnataka in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On Sunday, a group of people in Karnataka allegedly prevented workers from unloading a consignment of vegetables at Kannadithodu, near the Kerala-Karnataka border. The Karnataka government had dumped earth on the road here preventing vehicles from entering the State.
A trader in Kasaragod had ordered the consignment from Mysuru. Workers were transferring vegetables from the truck to another one on the Kerala side at Kannadithodu. At 8.30 p.m., a group of people came on bikes and threatened the workers and forced the driver to turn back with the consignment.
“Ever since the blockade on the State border by Karnataka, traders are finding it hard to bring materials into Kasaragod,” said Sathish, the trader, who ordered the consignment.
“We could not bring the consignment as the gang threatened and forced the truck driver to return with vegetables,” he said.
Mr. Satish said the gang followed the truck and blocked it at Korichal in Sullia taluk in Karnataka. They not only looted the consignment but also destroyed it. The gang also assaulted the truck driver and the workers. However, the driver and the worker refused to file a case, he added.
The blockade imposed by Karnataka is turning out to be a nightmare for traders and people in Kasaragod district, who are dependent on Mangaluru for their essential needs.
One more patient dies
The blockade took the life of another person in Kasaragod on Monday. Madhav, 45, a renal patient, hailed from Kunjathur in Manjeswaram.
Last Thursday, his relatives tried to take him to a hospital in Mangaluru after he fell sick. But the Karnataka police denied them entry at the State border and turned them back, Lakshmanan, a family member of the deceased, said.
His condition deteriorated on Monday and he died while being taken to another hospital in the district.
Two people being taken to Mangaluru for emergency medical assistance had died earlier after they were turned back on the border by the Karnataka Police.
