Coronavirus outbeak: Kerala breathes sigh of relief after Karnataka opens border roads

New Delhi, Apr 07: The Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that a settlement has been reached between Kerala and Karnataka in the ongoing quarrel on lifting the blockade of border roads.

A bench, headed by of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Deepak Gupta was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, that the clash between the two states on the blockade of roads following the coronavirus pandemic has been resolved.

During the hearing, the Solicitor General said that a meeting of Union Home Secretary with the Chief secretaries of Kerala and Karnataka was held in compliance with the order given on April 3.

Earlier, the Kerala government in its affidavit told the Supreme Court that Karnataka's decision on blocking National Highways and border roads considering the coronavirus outbreak, has been preventing people access to medical treatment and tampered movement of essential goods.

Coronavirus outbreak: Conflict between Kerala-Karnataka begins as borders to commute shut down

The Kerala government also said that the state lost eight lives due to blockade of border roads by Karnataka.

On April 3, the top court asked the Kerala government to not to precipitate the issue of opening of borders till further hearing. The top court also urged the Chief Secretaries of both the states to hold discussions with Union Health Secretary for a settlement of the issue and take a decide.

Karnataka had specifically closed the Makutta check post on the Mysore-Virajepat-Kannur highway. However, the High Court urged the central government to intervene and remove the closure.

The roads that connects Mangaluru in Karnataka, to Kasaragod in Kerala were part of the National Highway network. Also, it is the duty of the central government to ensure that roads are kept free of blockades.