The Supreme Court’s order to the State to release water at the rate of 10,000 cusecs from reservoirs across the Cauvery in the State to Tamil Nadu, till Sunday, has triggered protests in Mandya.
Members of the Mandya Zilla Raitha Hitarakshana Samiti (MZRHS), the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and various associations took to the streets on Thursday expressing their disapproval of the Supreme Court’s order.
Traffic on the Bangalore-Mysore highway and other major roads from Mandya was hit on Thursday owing to a series of demonstrations. Hundreds of vehicles came to a halt on the Bangalore-Mysore highway near Induvalu, Kallahalli, Sanjay Circle, Gejjalagere and at some other places between Srirangapatna and Maddur.
Though road traffic between Bangalore and Mysore was disrupted by roadblocks, train services were normal.
The samiti and the KRRS launched a demonstration near the Visvesvaraya statue off the Bangalore-Mysore highway near Kallahalli here by blocking traffic near the protest venue. A good number of vehicles, including Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Mandya Nagara Sarige (MNS) buses were left stranded. At one point of time, the protestors had to face the ire of commuters who were waiting for the agitators to clear the highway.
A KSRTC bus passenger, who was frustrated, allegedly described the agitators as “publicity hungry protestors”. The samiti members dragged him out of the bus and thrashed him. Tension prevailed for a while at the spot due to the assault.
