Click to play videoNew Delhi: Tension gripped the Cauvery basin on Tuesday, a day after the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal announced its final verdict on water sharing on Monday.
In a late backlash to the verdict, agitated Karnataka farmers came out on the streets in large numbers on Tuesday morning and completely blocked the Mysore-Bangalore Express Highway.
The areas worst hit by the farmers' agitation included Pandavpur, Maddur, Mandya. The protests also spread to Bangalore where police detained 150 pro-Kannada protestors in order to prevent further trouble.
Karnataka was on high security alert on Tuesday and schools, colleges and businesses were shut as politicians across the state protested the verdict.
Police force deployed in sensitive areas, near Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam site, in Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts besides Bangalore are keeping a strict vigil to maintain law and order.
Riot police patrolled the streets of Bangalore overnight and were also out in force early on Tuesday.
Bus service between Bangalore and Mysore have been withdrawn as precautionary measure and services to neighbouring Tamil Nadu was also suspended.
However, buses are plying up to border districts of Tamil Nadu. The buses had been terminated at Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Hosur depots, state transport corporation sources said.
Heavy rush was witnessed in trains plying between Bangalore and Mysore.
Groups of Kannada activists had protested in Mysore and Chamarajnagar areas on Monday and there was an agitation by farmers in Mandya immediately after the verdict.
However, by the large the areas had remained peaceful on Monday. Mysore and Mandya districts, the hotbed of Cauvery politics, have since been put under heavy police cover.
Since Monday, police have been maintaining a strict vigil at various key locations in the border areas. Security has been tightened at the famous tourist spot of Hogenakkal and also Biligundalu where Cauvery enters Tamil Nadu.
There was no untoward incident reported from anywhere on Monday, police said.
Tamil Nadu authorities have deployed police personnel in strength in the hilly areas and border hamlets where Kannada-speaking people live. Police patrolling was being maintained in villages identified as Naxalites-infested in the district.
The final award of the Cauvery Tribunal came in for flak from Opposition leaders in Karnataka, who said it was 'shocking' and had rendered ;grave injustice' to the state. They demanded that the government should file a review petition before the adjudicating body.
A 1991 interim court order telling Karnataka to release 205 billion cubic feet of water to Tamil Nadu sparked riots against minority Tamils in Bangalore, leaving about 20 people dead.
Meanwhile, an all-party meeting called by Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on the Cauvery issue on Tuesday has been postponed to Wednesday due to the death of senior Congress leader UT Fareed in Mangalore.
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