Protests over the contentious sharing of the waters of the River Cauvery gained momentum here on Friday, with hundreds of activists demanding that no water should be allowed to reach neighboring Tamil Nadu. Activists of several regional parties organised this stir against the Cauvery River Authority's (CRA) directive on sharing waters of River Cauvery with neighbouring Tamil Nadu and the Prime Minister's instructions to release 9000 cusecs of water from the KRS reservoir.
Ambrish, a local actor, said the people of Karnataka would die without drinking water in this situation and the farmers’ plight was far from good. “See, this Cauvery problem, the decision was what the CRA made. Now, they have sent the team to examine everything in both
the states. They have come here to study what is the status quo of the water. Now, what I say is, they should have said this before and given this decision, making decision of 9000 cusecs water everyday. Then, there will be no water, Karnataka people will die everyday without drinking water. Farmers are already dead, they
are finished. They won’t get water for one crop also. They may get half of the paddy crop and the sugarcane is gone,” he said. On Wednesday, hundreds of activists of Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi and farmers hurled stones at a police bus during their protest over sharing of water from River Cauvery in Karnataka.
Thousands across the state have been raising their voice against the Cauvery River Authority's (CRA) directive on sharing waters of River Cauvery with neighbouring Tamil Nadu and the Prime Minister's instructions to release 9000 cusecs of water from the KRS reservoir. As a precautionary measure, the district administration has imposed prohibitory orders within a radius of one kilometre around the dam.
The Supreme Court had asked the CRA of which the Prime Minister is the Chairman, to convene
a meeting and address the Tamil Nadu's grouse over the denial of its share of
by the Karnataka government. At this the CRA did meet and asked Karnataka to release
9000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till mid-October so as to enable farmers in
Tamil Nadu to proceed ahead with cultivation of crops. Karnataka resented this
by contending the state is facing drought-like situation and several all-party
sittings were held while farmers and pro-Kannada organisations intensified their
protests. An apex court bench of Justices D.K. Jain and Madan Lokur warned Karnataka
that if it failed to comply with the CRA directive, it (the bench) would have
to pass appropriate orders. Sharing of river waters has been a bone of contention
between the two states for over three decades.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government submitted a petition to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to grant a stay on the decision of CRA. Karnataka has already filed a plea before the CRA to reconsider its order in wake of rain deficiency and prevailing drought-like
situation in the region.
