BELAGAVI
Tension has further gripped the Karnataka-Maharashtra border area as district authorities have issued orders banning the entry of Maharashtra ministers Shambhuraj Desai and Chandrakant Patil in Belagavi on Tuesday.Hatkanagale MP Dhairyasheel Mane, who has been recently appointed chief of an expert committee formed by the Maharashtra government regarding the writ petition in the Supreme Court on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute, was also to accompany the ministers.
While Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has urged his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde not to send his team, Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil, who is also the district magistrate, has issued orders banning the entry of Maharashtra ministers, adding that the minister and their team would not be allowed to enter Belagavi on the border on December 6.
“I have received the tour plan of the two ministers and a member of parliament from Maharashtra. Earlier, they were supposed to visit on December 3 but now their visit has been postponed to December 6,” DC Patil said.
“The Police Commissioner of Belagavi and Superintendent of Police of Belagavi district have opined that the arrival of the Maharashtra ministers would disturb the law and order situation and under the prevailing situation, we urge the ministers to cancel their visit or else, we will be compelled to take action.”
Earlier in the morning, Karnataka Chief Minister Basvaraj Bommai had also warned Maharashtra ministers not to enter Karnataka.
“For us, the boundary dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra is a closed chapter. But visit of the Maharashtra minister when the situation is volatile in Belagavi City would provoke people and invite law and order problems compelling us to initiate action. I have already urged the Maharashtra government not to send the ministers,” Bommai told reporters.
“Kannada and Marathi people are living in harmony in the border areas. Moreover, as the case is before the Supreme Court, it was unfair of leaders to indulge in provoking people and inciting their sentiments over the issue,” Bommai added.
However, sources said the Maharashtra ministers are said to be bent on visiting the border district on Tuesday and are likely to reach the Maharashtra-Karnataka border at Kognoli Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists staged a protest at Rani Channamma circle in Belagavi on Monday, demanding the district administration to prohibit entry of the ministers of Maharashtra into Belagavi and said their visit would disturb peace in Belagavi over the border dispute.
