Hundreds of farmers, under the banner of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene, laid siege to the office of Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (CNNL) near Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS), near Srirangapatna, on Saturday demanding that Cauvery waters be released to canals to allow them to take up farming activities.
Chairman of the Pandavapura Sahakari Sakkare Karkhane, K.S. Nanjunde Gowda, led the protest.
The protesters gathered on the CNNL office premises and raised slogans against the officials concerned for “not taking measures to safeguard the interests of farmers” in the district.
The Irrigation Department has decided to discharge water to canals from July 28. However, the farmers have already prepared their lands for sowing seeds and raising paddy nurseries. The department should immediately discharge Cauvery waters to Visvesvaraya, Chikka Devaraya Sagar (CDS), Virija, Devaraya, Varuna (D. Devaraj Urs) and other canals, they demanded.
Standing crops and paddy nurseries at several hundreds of villages are on the verge of withering owing to the non-release of water, and it would cause a huge financial loss, they pointed out. If the CNNL fails to release water by Saturday morning, the farmers will intensify protests across the district, they warned. They submitted a memorandum to the Executive Engineer of the CNNL.
