The Bharatiya Janata Party has come down heavily on the State government for releasing Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, the party’s district unit president H. Yoga Ramesh said, “BJP was the first party to raise the issue of releasing water to Tamil Nadu. We staged a protest near Hemavati reservoir in Goruru as the outflow was suddenly increased last month. Since then, the government has been releasing water to Tamil Nadu and ignoring the plight of our farmers,” he alleged.
Blaming both the Congress and the JD(S) for the present crisis, Mr. Ramesh said the district administration should have convened a meeting of elected representatives in the district before taking a decision to release water from Hemavati reservoir.
“So far, the government has not told farmers of the district about the crop they should cultivate and the quantity of water available. The government should have filled the tanks in the district before releasing water to Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Relying on the reservoir
Farmers cultivating over 1.6 lakh hectares in the district have been depending on the reservoir. If they were informed about the non-availability of water in advance, they would have been prepared to face the consequences, he said.
Later, the BJP workers staged a protest by stopping vehicles on B.M. Road and staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
