“This is not a normal year but a distress year due to deficit rains during the monsoon season”.
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Speaking to reporters after holding the first coordination committee meeting of the state Congress, Singh complimented Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for consistently taking the opposition on board regarding the issue.
Protests are still going on against the apex court’s verdict that Karnataka should release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water daily to TN for 10 days.
Siddaramaiah had also said the government would approach the apex court with a modification petition, explaining its difficulties in implementing the order.
She expressed hope that the central government would ensure justice to Tamil Nadu by impressing upon Karnataka to honour the court’s judgment and release water. “The dam will be left with merely 4 tmcft usable water if 4,000 cusecs is released for 10 days”, he said.
“We had concerns that a water shortage could arise, so we convinced farmers to plant crops after assessing the water situation”, Sulochana said.
Many farmers jumped into the Cauvery basin in Sriranagapatna town of Mandya district near Krishna RajaSagra (KRS) dam protesting against the release of water to Tamil Nadu.
Protesting farmers entered into the flowing waters upto the waist-level in Srirangapatna near Mandya during which some of them fell ill.
With four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin, not having enough water revenue department sources paint a grim picture on the water situation in the six to seven districts of Chamrajnagar, Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, Ramangaram, Bangalore urban and rural which are exclusively dependent on the Cauvery.
With political parties also supporting the day-long shutdown called by a federation of over 500 pro-Kannada organisations, including farmers, traders and businesses, security has been stepped up and additional forces deployed across the state to maintain law and order.
Kesavan, an office-bearer of Tamil Nadu Truckers’ Association, said transport business worth several hundred crores has been affected as lorries, tempos and even private vehicles are stranded on the inter-state borders.
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Protests have been reported from several parts of the state including Bengaluru, Kolar, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, as also from few northern districts.
