A day after the Mullaiperiyar dam issue between Tamil Nadu and Kerala reached a crescendo with chief ministers of the states hurling charges against each other, a lull seems to have set in on Friday.
Traffic between the two states, which was disrupted since the past two days following road blockades, was restored with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi appealing for calm and asking people to give up their agitated approach.
Hundreds of buses and lorries were seen lined up at the border check posts of Walayar, Kumili and Kaliyikkavila on Friday morning. Thousands of people, including women and children were stranded at the borders. Tourists, Sabarimala pilgrims and students were the worst affected by the blockade.
Some passengers who had reached Thiruvananthapuram Airport in the morning and were heading to bordering Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu were stranded at the Airport.
Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, which had suspended its inter-state services to Tamil Nadu following Thursday's 'road blockade' resumed the services on Friday afternoon.
Official sources were tight-lipped when asked whether Tamil Nadu would pull out of the scheduled talks between Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanthan and Karunanidhi at New Delhi on November 29, as was threatened by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader earlier.
Meanwhile, Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said at Kozhikode that the state had 'pinned all hopes on the November 29 talks.'
After the Kerala government asked a 19-member Naval team to assess the safety of the 111-year old dam, Karunanidhi had on Thursday threatened to pull out of the talks if the Centre did not step into stop the 'provocative actions' of the Kerala government.
However, Kerala called back the Navy team after the Centre asked it to withdraw from the venture.
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