Hubballi: Farmers of Mumbai-Karnataka erupted in anger as the Mahadayi tribunal denied the release of 7.56 tmcft water from the river to meet the drinking water needs of the region in its interim order on Wednesday.
Thousands of farmers and members of various pro-Kannada organisations took to the streets in Dharwad, Gadag, Bagalkot and Belagavi districts even as their leaders called for a Karnataka bandh on Thursday to protest the failure of the state and Union governments to find an out- of- tribunal solution to the water dispute While some farmers ransacked the office of BJP MP Shivakumar Udasi in Gadag and destroyed the party board and banner, others barged into several government offices and broke furniture, doors and windows.
Protesters tried to set fire to documents in the record room of the irrigation department. The police did a mild lathicharge to control the irate farmers pelting stones at government offices and the JMFC court, even as another sectioin blocked the Hubballi-Vijaypur national highway in Nargund, Navalgund, Hubballi and Dharwad and set tyres on fire in the streets.
Anticipating trouble, traders and businessmen downed their shutters in Nargund and Navalgund towns, where farmers have been agitating for the last year, demanding Karnataka's share of the Mahadayi river water.
With farmers threatening to lay siege to the houses of prominent politicians like opposition leader, Jagadish Shettar and MP, Prahlad Joshi, security was tight around them.
Gadag deputy commissioner, N S Prasannakumar, meanwhile, declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Thursday in view of the tension in the district.
“The interim order of the tribunal has dashed our hopes of getting Mahadayi water for drinking. We will step up our movement by holding a for state-wide bandh on Thursday. We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the dispute,” said Mr Veeresh Sobaradmath, convenor of the Kalasa Banduri Horata Samithi.
Responding, Haveri MP, Shivakumar Udasi, assured that all four BJP Lok Sabha MPs representing constituencies in the Mahadayi river basin, would attempt to persuade Mr Modi to hold talks with Goa and resolve the issue in Karnataka’s interests.
