Farmers in Karnataka protest after SC refuses to stay CWMA order on releasing water to Tamil Nadu

The farmers assembled at Sanjay Circle in Mandya, which is the Cauvery heart land, to register their protest

A file photo of Cauvery river water flowing under Wellesley bridge near Srirangapatana in Mandya district of Karnataka. | Photo Credit: Bhagya Prakash K

Farmers in Mandya resorted to a flash protest and staged a demonstration in the town and other parts of the district on September 21 soon after the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the order of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) directing Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu till September 27.

The farmers assembled at Sanjay Circle in Mandya, which is the Cauvery heart land, to register their protest. Similar protests took place in Pandavpura and other parts of the district. A group of farmers from the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) staged a protest in Srirangapatana. Chamarajanagar, T. Narsipur and other towns in the rural hinterland also witnessed protests by farmers.

Responding to the development, the Karnataka Sugarcane Cultivators’ Association urged the government not to comply with the CWMA’s directive to release water at the rate of 5,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu.

Association president Kurubur Shanthakumar told The Hindu that the State should immediately file a review petition and seek relief.

He plans to call a meeting of all farmers groups, Kannada organisations, representatives of the Kannada film industry to decide the next course of action, and broaden the struggle. ‘’There is a drinking water crisis in Karnataka. That being the case, Karnataka cannot be releasing water for irrigation purpose to Tamil Nadu,” said Mr. Shanthakumar.

The water level at the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam across the river Cauvery was hovering at 97.02 feet against the full reservoir level of 124.80 feet. The rate of inflow into the reservoir was 5,336 cusecs and the outflow was 5,735 cusecs of which the outflow into the river was 2,503 cusecs, and the rest was to the canals.

Against the gross storage capacity of 49.45 tmc ft, the actual storage was 20.56 tmc ft of which nearly 4 tmc ft is dead storage.

The outflow from Kabini dam to the river was at the rate of 2,000 cusecs while nearly 2,800 cusecs was being released into the canals. The gross storage capacity of the dam is 19.52 tmc ft against which the actual storage on September 21 was 14.66 tmc ft.

The cumulative outflow from both the KRS and Kabini into the river, which will flow to Biligundlu on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, was nearly 4,500 cusecs.