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Farmers protest against release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu
Farmers and pro-Kannada groups protest in Mandya against Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu, disrupting traffic. Officials deny allegations.
Bengaluru: Farmers’ union and pro-Kannada organisations staged a protest in Mandya on Sunday against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The protest disrupted the vehicular traffic on Bengaluru-Mysuru highway for more than two hours.
Farmer leaders alleged that despite the state facing a water crisis, the government is diverting the Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
Some local media outlets reported that over 4,579 cusecs of water was released from the KRS Dam to Tamil Nadu.
Raising slogans like “Let’s save our water”, the protesters demanded an immediate halt to the water release.
However, officials from Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL) denied the allegations.
“No water has been released from the KRS Dam to Tamil Nadu,” said Raghuram, a superintendent engineer at CNNL.
He explained, “The water level in Shivana Katte Dam in Malavalli decreased to minus 34 inches, affecting the supply of drinking water to Bengaluru. This disrupted water pumping operations, leading to a shortage. To tackle this, water has been released from KRS Dam.”
“On Saturday morning, 1,500 cusecs of water were discharged, and this was subsequently increased to 4,000 cusecs due to inadequate inflow to Shivana Katte Dam. It is anticipated that by Sunday evening or Monday morning, the water level at Shiva Dam will be replenished, allowing for cessation of outflow from KRS Dam.”
