4 Karnataka ST buses defaced in Pune; 55 villages take U-turn

KOLHAPUR/NASHIK: After protests in Belagavi over the anticipated visit by Maharashtra ministers took a violent turn with stones pelted at buses bearing a Maharashtra number plate, workers of the Shiv Sena (UBT) faction defaced four Karnataka state transport buses parked outside the Swargate bus terminus in Pune at around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
Drama also unfolded at the Nashik district collectorate, where, during a meeting held to discuss the 'demand' of residents of 55 villages in tribal-dominated Surgana taluka to merge with Gujarat, 12 sarpanches from these villages came forward to reveal that they were unaware of any "merger sentiments" and that the residents of their villages had no intention of joining the neighbouring state.
After buses were faced, the Swargate police in Pune detained seven party workers under the Maharashtra Police Act. Deputy commissioner of police (zone II) Smartana Patil told TOI, "The party workers sprayed saffron paint on the windscreen and registration number plate and wrote 'Jai Maharashtra'."
Pune police commissioner Amitabh Gupta told TOI, "Only one incident relating to defacement of Karnataka buses was reported at the Swargate terminus. We have deployed an adequate number of policemen to maintain bandobast at the terminus, Pune railway station and near Sangam bridge."
The MSRTC on Tuesday afternoon suspended its bus services to Karnataka. All MSRTC buses going to Karnataka from different districts, mainly Kolhapur and Sangli, have been stopped from Tuesday afternoon on the advice of police, said Shekhar Channe, MSRTC vice-chairman and managing director. Around 15-20 MSRTC buses travel daily to Karnataka, mainly to Belagavi. The plying of private buses from Maharashtra to Karnataka and back was not affected, transporters said.
Watch is being kept over vehicles coming from Maharashtra and at Kognoli checkpost, with more than 2,000 policemen deployed by both states. Later in the evening, Sena (UBT) workers were stopped by Kolhapur police at the Kognoli checkpost while they were trying to enter Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Nashik district guardian minister Dada Bhuse held a meeting with the delegation led by Surgana taluka NCP chief Chintaman Gavit to get feedback on problems being faced by the 55 villages neighbouring Gujarat and to give them an assurance about the administration's efforts to resolve them. Once the meeting wrapped up, Bhuse and Gavit decided to jointly address the media. Just then, 12 of the sarpanches walked into the hall and handed over a memorandum to Bhuse, stating though there are issues in the border villages, residents have no intention of merging with Gujarat. The memorandum also mentioned residents of the 55 villages had no inkling that a committee headed by the local NCP chief was trying to merge villages with Gujarat.
"We agree there is significant lack of development in our taluka. But none of the village residents, or sarpanches, endorse the idea of merging with Gujarat," said Hiraman Jiva Gavit, one of the sarpanches. Even Chintaman Gavit, taken aback by the turn of events, announced efforts to get the 55 villages merged with Gujarat have been suspended.