“The release of water from Cauvery following the Supreme Court order, though came as a relief, it is not enough to raise samba crops”, party state President Tamilisai Soundararajan told reporters here.
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Pro-Kannada organisation activists perform the “final rites” of the Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalitha and Karnataka Water Resources Minister M B Patil in protest against the Supreme Court verdict on Cauvery water, in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Echoing the views of other opposition parties, including the DMK, the CPI leader said the state government should convene an all-party meeting and take further steps on the issue.
Siddaramaiah said “this time also we had no other option and it was inevitable for us to release water and comply with the order”.
“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”, states Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister, Karnataka.
The Supreme Court had ordered release of 15,000 tmcft of water toTamil Nadu following a plea by the neighbouring state. Karnataka said that it can give 10,000 cusecs of water a day because poor rain has reduced water capacity of reservoirs lowering water availability, “not even for drinking”. “The farmers have always supported Kannada films and we stand by them”, said actor Shivarajkumar.
In Mandya, the epicentre of the Cauvery protests, agitators have blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway at several places.
Besides disrupting normal life in the district, about 100km from Bengaluru, the shut down led to closure of schools, colleges, offices shops, hotels, theaters and petrol bunks.
The Karnataka Bandh has been largely peaceful with stray incidents of pelting of stones in Mysuru and Mandya districts.
The state government will also bring in 10 companies of security personnel from the centre, two from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to maintain law and order.
Transport services will be paralysed on Friday as state-owned transport services, cabs, auto-rickshaws and Tamil Nadu buses will stay off the roads. Police said the government has deployed extra forces – two companies each from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, one from Maharashtra and 10 from the central forces are now in Karnataka.
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Protesting farmers entered into the flowing waters upto the waist-level in Srirangapatna near Mandya during which some of them fell ill.
