Trucks with vegetables, other essentials stranded on Kerala-

Several lorries laden with vegetables and other essentials bound for Kerala are stranded at Makootam and other places on its borders with Karnataka as the neighbouring state has blocked roads, police said on Saturday.

The Makootam road was blocked by Karnataka at around 4 pm on Friday without any warning. Several lorries were waiting to cross the border, a police official here said.

At least 50 trucks, carrying vegetables and other cargo, had been held up at Makkotam since last night.

Many stranded truckers alleged they were beaten up by police and asked to take the Wayanad route to enter Kerala.

Meanwhile, a pregnant woman from Kasaragod gave birth in an ambulance on Friday after Karantaka police allegedly refused to allow the vehicle to take the woman to her doctor at Mangaluru.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has already written to Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi on the blocking of roads and sought his intervention.

Expressing concern over the blocking of roads at different places along the border, vijayan said the people in the border villages are dependent on the neighbouring State for various needs and now Karnataka has blocked them out by piling truckloads of soil on the roads.

This goes against the spirit of the central government, Vijayan said adding "we need to figure out a way to address this issue.