Farmer threatens to end life

A farmer threatening to commit suicide by jumping from the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. Building in Maddur on Friday.

Suicide threat by a farmer seeking release of water to tail-end areas had kept the police and irrigation department officials at bay for nearly 45 minutes at Maddur on Friday.

Urging the authorities concerned to immediately release water to protect the standing crops, members of various associations staged a demonstration outside the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (CNNL) at Maddur.

Bid to jump

Channe Gowda of Malagaranahalli, a protester, climbed the CNNL building and threatened to jump from its top, if the district administration failed to ensure proper supply of water to farmlands in the tail-end of the command area of the Cauvery in Maddur taluk.

According to the protesters, hundreds of farmers at Malagaranahalli, Channasandra, Ajjahalli and Nagarakere in the tail-end area of the Visvesvaraya Canal had taken up cultivation on a large scale, hoping to get adequate water.

However, the CNNL officials failed to ensure proper supply of water into the tail-end areas of the canal in the region.

Therefore. standing crops had been badly affected by lack of water supply, Mr. Channe Gowda alleged.

Request

An uneasy situation prevailed at the spot following the incident. The police and the CNNL personnel tried to convince the farmer by promising to take measures to supply water. Later, he decided to withdraw the protest.

The incident lasted for nearly 45 minutes, an official at Maddur police station said.