Thalassery-Coorg Highway blockade : Kerala CM requests PM's intervention

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting his intervention in the matter of blocking Thalassery-Coorg State Highway-30 by Karnataka Police.

"The Thalassery-Coorg SH-30 has been a lifeline for transportation of essential commodities across the border for a long time," Vijayan wrote.

The Kerala Chief Minister further pointed out that the Karnataka government has erroneously assumed that the majority of COVID-19 positive cases in Kerala are in the bordering districts and hence banned the movement of vehicles on SH-30.

"The Karnataka government has justified the blocking of this road by saying that the majority of the identified cases of COVID-19 in Kerala are from the bordering districts with Karnataka. This is contrary to the facts. The incidence of COVID-19 in Kerala is mainly noticed in people returning from abroad. Our government has taken effective measures to monitor COVID-19 spread. The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Kerala is only 165 when compared to 1,34,370 persons kept under isolation and observation till March 28, 2020," Vijayan wrote to the Prime Minister.

Vijayan requested the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter to ensure that SH-30 reopens hence permitting the movement of goods vehicles carrying essential commodities at a time when the national lockdown is in force.

A three-week lockdown was called in India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.