Cauvery water dispute: Protests in Karnataka likely to continue today

Bangalore: The protests over the Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu are likely to continue in southern Karnataka and Bangalore on Tuesday. Karnataka has sought a stay on the Cauvery order which directs it to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. The matter will come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu has said that it will take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who heads the CRA, if the Centre decides to stay the release of water. Karnataka has erupted in protests ever since the Supreme Court's directive to the state government to release 9,000 cusecs of water daily till October 15 to Tamil Nadu.

On Monday, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and several Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from the state met the Prime Minister after Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar asked Krishna to take up the matter with the PM. According to reports, the leaders apprised the Prime Minister about the “grim” situation in Karnataka.

Karnataka has sought a stay on the Cauvery order which directs it to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu.

"We requested him to resolve the problem at the earliest... based on the report of the expert committee... He has to take a considered decision...The situation is very grim. That is why we have asked the Prime Minister to resolve the situation," Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters after the meeting. He said the party leaders also explained to Singh the drinking water situation, particularly in Bangalore, Mandya, Hassan and Mysore as well as the standing crops which are facing water scarcity.

Intense protests over release of water to Tamil Nadu have continued to sweep Cauvery river basin areas for over eight days. The agitators have been on hunger-strike in Mandya, the Cauvery heartland, and earlier staged a rasta-roko at Maddur-Gejjalagere, disrupting traffic on the Bangalore-Mysore highway. Processions were taken out in Mysore as well. Agitated farmers even demonstrated at several places in Mandya and Mysore districts, raising slogans against the Central and Tamil Nadu governments.

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