ADGP holds meeting with Kannada, Marathi groups amid border row

The officers told the leaders that protests would not yield anything but would only disturb the normal life of the people, the police said. The ADGP advised pro-Maharashtrians not to respond positively to Maharashtra leaders and to think about their families and future instead, the police added

The Karnataka police on Friday held a meeting with the representatives of Kannada and Marathi organisations in Belagavi amid the border dispute between the two states, officials said on Saturday.

Karnataka additional director-general of police (law and order), Alok Kumar, chaired a meeting with Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) at the Tilakwadi police station on Friday night. (ANI)

Karnataka additional director-general of police (law and order), Alok Kumar, chaired a meeting with Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) at the Tilakwadi police station on Friday night. Leaders of both sides agreed to cooperate with the government in maintaining law and order, officials added.

Despite being known as the junction of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, and the second capital of Karnataka, Belagavi, a business and education hub, has been plagued by language and border issues.

While many businesses worried about their future in Belagavi amid the border row due to the recurring dispute between Kannadigas and Marathis, many industrial setups have turned to Kolhapur district in Maharashtra and Goa. Belagavi industries, known for foundry cluster and lathe machine works which manufacture the spare parts of internationally branded vehicles and export for many nations, have switched to Maharashtra and Goa amid the language and border dispute. Businessmen claim that their investors are not interested in continuing, and as a result causing unemployment among the educated youths.

A Karnataka police officer said that youths thronged to the streets over the border and language row and were educated but unemployed. “The youth from both the states, especially from Kannada organisations rush to the roads over silly reasons with Kannada flag in hands and shawls on shoulders, block traffic on the roads and disturb normal life,” a senior police officer said, adding that they had not taken strict action against them as they don’t want to spoil the future by filing legal cases.

“However, unfortunately, despite convincing, the youths are not responding, for which we planned to restrict the protests by talking to their leaders who agreed not to throng the streets over silly reasons,” the officer added.

The officers told the leaders that protests would not yield anything but would only disturb the normal life of the people, the police said. The ADGP advised pro-Maharashtrians not to respond positively to Maharashtra leaders and to think about their families and future instead, the police added.

About a dozen leaders from both groups had tea together and jointly told the media that going forward they would not indulge in such protests.

Police said it was a reunion after 2006 when the leaders of both groups came together and protested to arrest supari-killer and gangster Praveen Shintre who was at large after allegedly raping and murdering women for ransom from their husbands.

As protests were held every day in different places of Belagavi, the police team led by the then SP Hemant Nimbalkar rounded up the notorious gangster in Mangaluru and ‘encountered’ him at his bungalow.