A scuffle broke out between Police and farmer associations in Karnataka's Mandya where they were staging a protest opposing the release of Cauvery River's water to Tamil Nadu. A video shared by the news agency ANI shows farmers with bullock carts trying to move forward while police personnel stop their movement. According to the agency, some of the protesters have also been detained by the Police. This comes as the farmer associations earlier gave a call to block the Bengaluru-Mysuru express highway.
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to constitute a bench to hear the Cauvery River water-sharing dispute case. The Tamil Nadu government had approached the apex court seeking fresh directions on the release of water from Karnataka, claiming the neighbouring state has "changed its stand". The state government said that Karnataka came forward to release only a reduced quantum of 8,000 cusecs of water as against 15,000 cusecs that was decided earlier, news agency PTI reported.
Earlier, on August 11, Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan had said that the state had emphatically put forth its requirement but despite that, Karnataka changed its stand. He added that neighbouring state said it would release only 8,000 cusecs of water, that too, till August 22.
The minister added that on August 10, the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee, in a meeting had unanimously decided that 15,000 cusecs of water would be released by Karnataka each day for 15 days.
Meanwhile, after Tamil Nadu approached the apex court, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said that the state would release 10 tmc ft of water from the Cauvery basin to the neighbouring state.
Shivakuamr, who is also in charge of the Water Resources department, said the state doesn't have sufficient water in dams to meet its requirements like drinking water and agriculture due to deficit monsoon.
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