Closure of borders by Karnataka: Pinarayi Vijayan seeks PM’s intervention

Thiruvananthapuram/Mangaluru: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday requested the urgent intervention of the Centre on the new COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Karnataka government on the entry of people from the state.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said many people including students, trucks carrying essential commodities and patients going for medical treatment were put to “undue hardship” at the state borders due to this.

He also brought to the PM’s notice that imposing restrictions of inter-state movement of people by states is contrary to the instructions of the government of India.

“I request your urgent intervention in this matter so that hardship of people from Kerala travelling to the neighbouring state of Karnataka can be avoided,” Vijayan said.

With the Karnataka government reinstating stricter control of transit passengers from Kerala in view of increasing COVID-19 positive cases, people bound to Mangaluru and other parts of Dakshina Kannada from here for various purposes, including medical needs and studies, were in a fix.

Long queues of vehicles could be seen in the border areas since Monday as Karnataka authorities sealed many roads, including national highways and restricted entry only for those with COVID-19 negative certificates.

The Dakshina Kannada authorities sealed all borders from Monday, except four to cross over, sources said.

According to Karnataka officials at the borders,those who wished to enter the state have to produce COVID-19 negative certificates through an RT-PCR test taken 72 hours prior to their cross over time.

Health and police personnel are on duty at the four borders, viz. Talapady in Mangalore taluk, Saradka in Bantwal, Nettanige-Mudnuru in Puttur taluk and Jalsoor in Sullia, to verify and allow people”s entry into Karnataka.