After a three hour meeting with Union ministers from Karnataka, MPs and floor leaders of political parties in the legislature, chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters: “As we can not defy a constitutional body like the Supreme court, with a heavy heart we have made a decision to release the water as directed by the apex court”. This came despite an assurance from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that there will be no shortage in water for farmers in the state.
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“Unfortunately, Karnataka is always at the receiving end in inter-state river water disputes, bet it with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh (Krishna river) and Goa (Mahadayi river)”. Karnataka released 11,000 cusecs of water from KRS reservoir, with government officials saying 4,000 cusecs more would follow.
“For drinking water, we need 28.08 tmc of water and for agriculture, we need 47.71 tmc”.
Vehicular movement between Bengaluru and Mysuru crippled as well as the highway was blocked at several places in Mandya district, the epicentre of the stir.
Following forecast for a good monsoon, farmers in Mandya had planted paddy on 30,000 hectares and sugarcane on 6,000 hectares, officials said.
The protestors who had gathered at the bus station raised slogans against water resources minister, M B Patil, for failing to furnish accurate information to Supreme Court, and senior advocate, Fali Nariman, for not placing affective arguments on behalf of the state in SC.
“We have informed private companies about the inconvenience”, said Radhakrishna Holla of the Bengaluru Tourist Taxi Owners’ Association. “But they would release only 30 tmcft for cultivation since 20 tmcft would be stored in the dam”, Ayyakannu, President, National River Linking Farmers’ Association, said. “However, so far, we have not received any communication as yet”, he said.
However, the protests are only growing fierce, with Mandya and some other regions of the state taking the center stage. Only one stray incident of stone-pelting has been reported since Wednesday.
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Echoing his views, another farmers leader “Puliyur” Nagaraj said farmers in the Delta region cultivate samba in 25 lakh hectares and they can’t even start the cultivation of the crop with the water that is expected to be in Mettur dam.
