The Supreme Court’s suggestion to the State government on Friday to consider taking steps to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu in keeping with the ‘live and let live’ principle has left farmers in Mandya worried.
The farmers held a meeting on Friday to chalk out a protest plan. The legal team had failed to convince the court of the dismal conditions of farmers in Krishnnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir-dependent areas, said Shambhunahalli Suresh, senior leader of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS).
The State has instructed farmers in the Cauvery delta not to take up agricultural activities in the current kharif season following less rainfall. “The legal experts failed to draw attention to these developments,” Mr. Suresh said. Over 200 farmers ended their lives in the Cauvery delta in Mandya and Mysuru since June 2015, and the farmers have been losing summer crops for the past four years, he said.
“We will launch protests against the Supreme Court suggestions as well as our advocates who have failed to convince the courts,” said Nagaraju, another KRRS leader. K.S. Puttannaiah, Melkote MLA and senior KRRS leader in Mandya, said he will discuss the issue with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa has appealed to the Chief Justice of India to send a team of irrigation and technical experts to study the availability of water in Karnataka. Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa said Karnataka is an upper riparian State in the Cauvery basin, and the State will have no choice but to release water to Tamil Nadu if the Supreme Court suggested it.
