Click to play videoBangalore: A day after the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal announced its final verdict on water sharing between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, agitated farmers in Karnataka were an angry lot.
As the air of resentment spreads, the police is taking no chances. No wonder, the security at Hosur Road, which is very close to the Tamil Nadu border in Karnataka, was nothing short of that present at the Wagah border.
The point passengers from both states now use the road for changing buses because of the fear buses might be targeted in the wake of the verdict on Cauvery water sharing.
In the heart of the city, farmers and pro-Kannada activists used novel protest tactics. Others steered clear of trouble by downing shutters. The normally busy Bangalore-Mysore highway was more or less deserted.
"The verdict is very unfair to Karnataka. We will protest. But we will not give the water," says Chief of Kannada Rakshana Vedike Narayan Gowda.
And it's really the fine print in the verdict that has Karnataka up in arms—the shifting of the water gauging station from Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu to Beligundlu, a border village in Karnataka.
The distance between Mettur and Biligundlu is 70 km and this catchment area gets 25 TMC feet of water every year. Even though the interim relief for Tamil Nadu was 205 TMC feet, Karnataka actually had to release 180 TMC. It now has to release 192 TMC, plus the 25 TMC feet extra.
An all-party meet will discuss the issue on Wednesday and the state is likely to file a review petition soon after.
Meanwhile, Bangalore remained by and large peaceful. Schools and colleges were shut and a couple of shops too downed their shutters.
The situation in the city is normal. No incidents of violence have been reported. About the Aero show, we have extra police security there. A parallel police force will work in the city to keep everything under control," says Police Commissioner of Bangalore, Neelam Achuta Rao.
While opinion is divided on how fair the verdict has been to Karnataka, it's the fine print which has political leaders and pro kannada activists up in arms. The verdict may have been delivered but the issue is far from over.
(With Shwetal Kamalapurkar)
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