After SC order on Cauvery water, K'taka-bound vehicles from TN stopped at border

Coimbatore: In the wake of the Supreme Court order on Monday directing Karnataka to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, vehicles proceeding to Mysore from neighbouring Nilgiris district have been stopped near the border as a precautionary measure, police said.

The apex court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to ameliorate plight of the farmers there.

Noting that the samba crops in Tamil Nadu would be adversely affected, a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit directed Karnataka to ensure supply of water to Tamil Nadu.

Following reports of protest by farmers in Karnataka, particularly in Mandya and Maddur areas, a few kms from Mysore, against releasing of water to Tamil Nadu, vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu registration, including government buses plying to the neighbouring state were stopped at the border, police said.

On September 2, the Supreme Court had made an emotional appeal to Karnataka saying 'live and let live', after Tamil Nadu brought to the notice of the court that the Chief Minister of the neighbouring state has said that not a drop of water will be released to it.

In a recent plea, Tamil Nadu had sought a direction to Karnataka to release 50.52 tmc feet of Cauvery water to save 40,000 acres of samba crops this season. In reply, Karnataka had said it has a deficit of about 80 tmc feet in its four reservoirs.