KKRTC buses to Maharashtra suspended after bus torched by quota protesters

The bus was torched by unidentified people during the protests for Maratha reservation in the neighbouring state and nobody was injured in the incident.

After a Kalyana Karnataka Road Transportation Corporation bus was set on fire at Maharashtra’s Omerga by the protesters, the transport department announced the suspension of bus services to the neighbouring state. The bus was torched by unidentified people during the protests for Maratha reservation in the neighbouring state and nobody was injured in the incident.

KKRTC buses to Maharashtra suspended after bus torched by quota protesters

The KKRTC bus which was travelling from Bhalki to Pune was targeted by the protesters on Monday. Speaking to PTI, a transport official said, “No one was injured in this incident as the protesters deboarded all the passengers and set the bus on fire. Quickly alternative arrangements were made to take the passengers to their destination. We will stop bus operations till normalcy is restored.”

The ongoing agitation seeking reservation for the Maratha community descended into violence and arson on Monday as quota protesters torched, vandalised homes or offices of three MLAs, targeted a municipal council building and disrupted road traffic in Maharashtra, police earlier said. Most of the violent incidents and arson took place in Beed district, where the local administration on Monday imposed a curfew till "further orders" in some areas. In one locality, police fired tear-gas shells to disperse a mob of Maratha agitators that had gathered outside the home of a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader.

Even during the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra in December last year, the ATMs of Karnataka banks and buses of the state transport department were attacked by activists of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MES) in Maharashtra’s Pune district.

(With agency inputs)