Scores of farmers in Karnataka are protesting against the Supreme Court’s directive to the state government to release 15,000 cusec of water from the Cauvery river to neighbouring Tamil Nadu for 10 days.
Protesters burnt tyres and blocked a major highway in the state. As a safety measure, the Karnataka government pulled off around 700 buses from the roads.
Buses travelling between both the states were also stopped by the protestors and a bus was damaged in Tamil Nadu.
Farmers, traders, students and political leaders have called for a shut down in Mandya district today in protest against the apex court order, which will deplete the water level in the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir further, affecting supply to fields and taps.
A senior government official said that around 2,400 policemen have been deployed to monitor the situation. Schools and colleges in the district have been closed for the day.
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In Tamil Nadu, buses and trucks heading to Karnataka were stopped at Hosur along the border.
Yesterday also, hundreds of people, especially farmers staged protest demonstrations in the Mysuru region against the SC’s order.
The protesters blocked vehicular traffic on the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru state highway by burning discarded tyres and effigies of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and placing barricades at many places enroute.{twitter:twitter.com/ANI_news/status/773014883285790720}
Farmers have also threatened to hold 'jal satyagraha' (agitation for water) to prevent the state government releasing water from the nearby Krishnaraja Sagar Reservoir (KRS), built across the river basin.
"We will not allow the state government to release water at any cost from the half-empty reservoirs as we don't have enough water for our fields and drinking water," Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leader Nanjungowda at Mandya said.
Several pro-Kannada outfits have called for a Karnataka Bandh on September 9.
Meanwhile, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has called an all party meeting today to discuss the issue and also how to tackle the situation.
According to the state water resources department, due to deficient rainfall during the southwest monsoon this year, the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin have only 55 per cent of the water.
One thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water is equivalent to 28,317 million litres of water. A cusec, which is a measure of flow rate of water per second, is equivalent to a flow of 28.317 litres per second.
The top court had on Monday also directed both the states to make a representation before the supervisory committee which would later tell the court about the ground reality.