Kolhapur: A meeting of Maharashtra Governor Bhagatsinh Koshyari and Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot besides Collectors and police officers of both states will be held on Friday in Maharashtra's Kolhapur in a bid to settle the decades-old Belagavi border dispute between the two border states.
The meeting at the Residency Club Kolhapur is being convened following a directive from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adequate security arrangements have been made in Kolhapur city with police personnel deployed at important spots. The border district Collectors and police officers of both states arrived in Kolhapur on Thursday night.
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The meeting, which will start at 11 am and conclude at 1 pm, will discuss threadbare the Belgavi border dispute lingering since 1956 when the state re-organisation included four Maratha dominant districts of Belgaum, Dharwad, Bijapur and Karwar with Karnataka leaving the Maharashtra government disgruntled. Besides, the Maharashtra government is also likely to take up the recent floods in Kolhapur and Sangli due to the rising water levels in Almatti Dam in Karnataka.
The meeting is also expected to discuss illegal liquor traffic from Goa, lumpy skin disease, the issue of animal fodder and stray elephants sneaking into Maharashtra from Karnataka. Pertinently, since the 1956 state reorganisation, November 1 is observed as a Black Day by Marathi speakers in Belgaum demanding their inclusion with Maharashtra. On November 1 Tuesday also, the Maharashtra Ekikarana Samithi (MES) had given a call to observe the day as a Black Day on Karnataka Formation Day in Belagavi. The Karnataka police refused to allow Maharashtra leaders into the state through the border check-posts in the Belagavi district.
