Protest intensifies in Karnataka post SC order to give Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu
Bengaluru/Chennai: Agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits on Tuesday blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the Supreme Court directive to the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
However, in the light of Supreme Court order, Karnataka will release water to Tamil Nadu despite severe hardship, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Meanwhile, Kannada organisations have called for Karnataka bandh on Friday, September 9, the second one this month.
Earlier in the day, lakhs of commuters were stranded in various parts of the city when bus services headed towards Mysuru and Tamil Nadu were cancelled following the Cauvery tension. The situation is expected to continue till the weekend. The only relief for travellers was that train services were intact.
Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order.
Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September nine, as the Cauvery row hotted up after the Supreme Court direction to Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there.
Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said.
Meanwhile, the government appealed to people not to resort to agitation and to maintain calm. Ex-CM B.S. Yeddiyurappa asked the government to file a petition countering the Supreme Court order.
