Yellur’s ‘Maharashta’ board: Belgaum tense

Belgaum: Tension continues in Belgaum and in surrounding areas with the controversy over the removal of the ‘Maharashtra State’ board in the Marathi-majority Yellur town on the district’s outskirts refusing to die down.

A day after the board was removed by the district administration on Friday, hundreds of pro-Marathi activists rebuilt a similar board at the same spot in Yellur on Saturday which was demolished on Sunday by police personnel who entered Yellur.

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In view of the tension prevailing in the region, the Belgaum DC imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 of the IPC in Belgaum city and in the Marathi-dominated Khanapur taluk and Nipani town. Several people and police personnel were injured in the clashes that broke out over the removal of the Yellur board on Saturday and Sunday. The police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the mob that indulged in stone-throwing at Yellur on Sunday in protest against the demolition of the board.

Hundreds of police personnel have been deployed at Yellur. Several leaders from Yellur blamed leaders from outside for creating tension in their town and said none of the residents of Yellur were involved in the rebuilding of the board on Saturday.