Upset over the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal’s rejection of the interim plea by Karnataka government for allowing use of 7.56 tmc ft. of water from its share, farmers and members resorted to snap protests in Hubballi, Dharwad, Gadag, Naragund, Navalgund and various places in Belagavi district on Wednesday.
The situation has turned tense in several parts including in Naragund, the epicentre of the year-long farmers’ agitation, and in Navaglund, Dharwad and Hubballi. National Highway No. 218 (between Hubballi and Vijapaura) is out of bounds for motorists.
Farmers and members of pro-Kannada organisations accompanied by members of Janata Dal (Secular) took out protest marches in Naragund, Navalgund, Dharwad, Hubballi and also in Belagavi.
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In Hubballi, most shopkeepers have downed their shutters in the central business district and in and around the landmark Kittur Chennamma Circle, which has witnessed agitations over the issue at regular intervals.
Farmers and members of various organisations marched to the Brindavan Circle near Sangolli Rayanna statue and staged a protest and blocked the road. Angry protestors raised anti-government slogans and burnt old tyres at traffic junctions. As a precautionary measure, the police have made elaborate bandobast.
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Ransacked
In Gadag, the office of MP Shivakumar Udasi was ransacked by protestors and the furniture was damaged.
Stone pelting at Navalgund
Angry protestors pelted stones at the office buildings of the Public Works Department and the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) in Navalgund, damaging the window panes and the glass façade of the building.
'Shocking'
“It is shocking and highly disappointing, it is an injustice to the people of north Karnataka region,” said Belagavi District Kannada Organisations Action Committee president Ashok Chandargi. He said the stand taken by the MWDT had dealt a severe blow to the thousands of farmers agitating for early implementation of the diversion projects for the past two decades. The people of north Karnataka would not remain silent, as they were left with little option but to launch a more intensified struggle soon, he said.
Though the State government was considering filing an appeal before the Supreme Court on the matter, activists have been pressuring the 28 MPs from Karnataka, particularly 19 MPs belonging to the BJP, to come to their aid. The farmers would now pressure the BJP MPs to stage an indefinite dharna in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s house at New Delhi till the latter promised to intervene and explore an out-of-court resolution of the protracted dispute, Mr.Chandargi said.
Belagavi Deputy Commissioner N. Jayaram clamped prohibitory orders in Kalasa project site area in Kankumbi of Khanapur Taluk till midnight today.
Farmers who were proceeding to Pune-Bengaluru NH4 to stage a rasta roko were arrested half-way on their journey.