The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) members staged a ‘Jal Satyagraha’ at the Cauvery River near Srirangapatna, besides staging demonstrations at over 15 places along the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway between Srirangapatna and Maddur. The protests paralysed the traffic on the busy stretch, which is a connecting highway for several States in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The farmers burnt effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalitaa and urged CM Siddaramaiah not to release water as the State is reeling under severe drought.
According to KS Nanjundegowda a farmer’s leader, for the last four years, the farmers in the Cauvery delta in Karnataka have been losing crops continuously owing to either drought or Cauvery water crisis, and termed the direction of the SC as death knell to the farmers in the Cauvery basin.
In another development as the situation is volatile across the Cauvery belt Chief Minister Siddaramaiah perturbed by the SC direction has called for an-all party meeting on Tuesday to review the situation.
law Minister TB Jayachandra termed the SC directive a “setback”. Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting of floor leaders of both Houses and MPs from the State on Tuesday to discuss the situation arising out of the Supreme Court’s directive to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water a day to Tamil Nadu for 10 days.
A decision to this effect was taken after an emergency meeting with senior ministers, top-ranking officials and legal experts in Bengaluru on Monday soon after SC issued the directive to release water. The meeting of floor-leaders would decide the next course of action to be taken by Karnataka which is left with poor storage in its reservoirs in the Cauvery basin due to deficient rainfall.