BENGALURU: Brace for another lockdown as veteran Kannada protagonist, Vatal Nagaraj, on Saturday gave a call to stop all trains for 12 hours on September 15 to protest against the Union government’s failure to protect the state’s interests in disputes over sharing water of the Cauvery and the Mahadayi.
He told the media in Mandya on Saturday that Karnataka was denied its rightful share of the rivers Cauvery, Krishna and Mahadayi, with the Union government adopting a step-motherly attitude towards the state.
“We are going to stop all trains between 6 am and 6 pm on September 15. We are ready to go to jail. Such agitations are necessary to protect the interests of our state,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah termed as “unfortunate” the dispute over sharing river water in federal system, but it was possible to resolve this crisis over dialogue if they make up their mind.
He told reporters here, “Tamil Nadu is asking for water to save crops though it has sufficient water in Mettur Dam. In Karnataka, we are struggling for drinking water and requesting for the same. My Tamil Nadu counterpart has moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to Karnataka to release Cauvery water in spite of good water storage in dams. I personally feel states should not resort to fights over the issue of sharing water. Taking note of this, the Union government must implement a national river policy. Issues of these kinds cannot be solved in courts but through meaningful dialogues among the states concerned.”
On his part, former Congress MLA, Mr L R Shivaramegowda felt that former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader, Mr S M Krishna, should take the lead to hold talks with Chief Minister J Jayaliathaa to resolve the crisis.
He said that the inter-state river disputes cannot be solved in courts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi must also initiate steps to solve this issue across the table by convening the meeting of chief ministers' of the states concerned.
Mandya district, which had remained cut off from rest of the state for almost a week, slowly returned to normalcy.
