Mandya, July 31:
Farmers and Kannada outfits staged protests near the KRS reservoir in this district on Friday against the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) direction to release water to Tamil Nadu, even as police deployed around 1,500 personnel amid tight security arrangements.
The CWMA upheld the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s recommendation to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.
The CWMA did not take into consideration Karnataka’s contention of scant rainfall in the region in the monsoon and the severe drought situation prevailing in the state.
Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has convened an all-party meeting on August 2.
Demonstrators, including members of the Kannada Rakshana Vedike, gathered near the reservoir, with some women protesters symbolically eating grass to express their opposition to the CWMA and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) orders.
Some protesters, including women, were seen rolling on the road as a symbolic mark of protest.
They also carried posters featuring Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay with a cross mark over his image.
Several protesters were taken into preventive custody as police dispersed the demonstration.
“The Authority has signed a death warrant for our farmers. Under no circumstances should this be accepted,” a protester said, alleging that Karnataka was being subjected to “injustice time and again”.
Appealing to Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar to take a firm stand, the protester said, “The entire Kannada community stands with you. You have called an all-party meeting. Leaders of all parties, forgetting caste and religion, will stand with you,” the protester urged the chief minister not to release water.
He also appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay to understand the ground reality before seeking water from Karnataka.
Calling for a stronger legal fight, he said, “This must stop. A proper case must be presented before the Supreme Court”.
Mandya Superintendent of Police Shobha Rani V J said elaborate security arrangements had been made across the district in anticipation of protests.
Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and his Tamil Nadu counterpart Vijay are likely to meet on August 3.
It is still not clear whether Vijay would come to Karnataka and have a meeting with Shivakumar or it would be a virtual meeting.
Shivakumar has even offered Vijay to visit the Cauvery region to see for himself the ground reality.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu farmers who oppose Chief Minister Vijay visiting Karnataka insisted that if Vijay visits Karnataka, he should bring his Karnataka counterpart, D K Shivakumar, to the affected paddy cultivation region in the Cauvery Delta in Tamil Nadu.