Farmers in Karnataka’s Madya staged protest after Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) passed an interim order asking Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily for the next 15 days till September 2. On Tuesday also, the farmers held a sit-in protest blindfolding themselves in front of the Cauvery Irrigation Corporation office at the main gate of the KRS dam in Mandya, as per an ANI report. The farmers demand to stop the release of water to Tamil Nadu immediately citing scarcity of water.
The farmers alleged that the state government does not care about the farmers.
Karnataka minister MB Patil, however, told the news agency that the panel order was a difficult one to implement .
"We do not have water. It is very difficult to implement the panel order. So we have taken the legal route. So we are going to raise it before the Cauvery Water Management Authority".
The minister said they will try to convince the panel to assist in providing water availability in both the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Reacting to the matter, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the Supreme Court will announce its verdict soon on the Cauvery water dispute and said they will “safeguard the interests” of the state.
“Let the Supreme Court verdict come. Then I will react,” he added.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads with each other over the sharing of Cauvery river water for a long time now.
On Friday, the Supreme Court refrained from passing any order on the Tamil Nadu government's plea on the release of Cauvery water, saying it does not possess any expertise on this issue and sought a report from the Cauvery Water Management Authority on the quantum of release made by Karnataka.