Farmers protest release of Cauvery water to TN

Mandya: Farmers from Induvalu village on Mysuru-Bengaluru highway held a rasta-roko on Monday, urging the state government to immediately stop releasing water to Tamil Nadu from KRS reservoir. They said it will affect the farmers in the Cauvery basin and create drinking water shortage for people living in urban areas in case monsoon weakens.
The agitating farmers squatted on the highway and raised slogans against chief minister Siddaramaiah and irrigation officers for not releasing water to their irrigation canals while showing utmost interest in releasing water to the neighbouring state.They stopped traffic for more than an hour. Vehicles were seen stranded on both the sides of the highway.
"The state government is releasing water to Tamil Nadu for the reason of helping farmers of that state to take up agriculture activities. If it is so, why are we (Mandya farmers) being deprived of water despite a good inflow into KRS reservoir? Monsoon has just begun and we cannot say how it proceeds. What if rain stops abruptly and we have yet another drought year staring at us?" asked H Chandrashekar, leader of Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha.
Meanwhile, a senior officer of the Cauvery Niravari Nigam Ltd defended the release of water to Tamil Nadu as per the interim award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
"We are aware that our farmers are yet to get water to take up sowing activities. A meeting of the Irrigation Consultative Committee (ICC) will be called at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on July 15 to discuss the issue. In the meeting, office bearers of ICC will take a decision on releasing water to the irrigationa canals," the officer said.