Cauvery river water sharing has been a long standing issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and a Supreme Court directive to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu has only made the situation worse. Even as Karnataka released the river water on 30 September, protests erupted, affecting the lives of many ordinary citizens in both states.
Karnataka farmers have been up in arms disrupting train services between Bangalore and Mysore. Three RAF companies have been deployed, and tourist entry to Vrindavan Gardens has been prohibited. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka registered vehicles are also unable to travel across the border.
Representational image. Reuters
The farmers feel that the release of water to Tamil Nadu is a betrayal of sorts by the Karnataka government because the state is facing one of its worst droughts in years.
As a result of the unrest, there seems to be a lot of hesitation in terms of people choosing to travel between the two states.
A report by Deccan Chronicle says that the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation has suspended all its services from Salem, Erode, Krishnagiri and Ooty in the western belt to the neighbouring state.
The report adds that while buses from Karnataka have been plying without hassle, lorries carrying goods from Coimbatore are being stopped at the Bannari and Hasanur check posts on the TN border. Hundreds of daily passengers who travel between the states, are stranded on the border.
If the situation doesn’t get better it can take a toll on the supply of goods between the states, which in turn will affect consumers. This situation will also affect travel between Karnataka and Kerala because one of the two routes between the two states is through Tamil Nadu.
At this point the only feasible way of traveling is by air. Bangalore Mirror says that demand for flight tickets between Chennai and Bangalore has gone up, and the price of flight tickets has gone up.
However a cursory online search by Firstpost on go.indigo.in and makemytrip.com revealed that ticket prices seem to be normal.
A one way trip from Bangalore to Chennai on Indigo Airlines is Rs 3,340 and is Rs 3,791 on Spicejet.
