A group of farmers, led by Purushotam Gouda, president of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene, lay siege to the office of no. 6 canal division of the Irrigation Department here on Friday to protest against the early closure of the high level canal of the Tungabhadra reservoir.
The closure of the canal, at least 15 days earlier than the schedule, has affected the standing crops in Ballari district, Mr. Gouda said.
The farmers locked the office and the main gate before staging a dharna demanding release of water as per the schedule fixed by the irrigation consultative committee.
They also heckled the Executive Engineer for not taking a decision to release the water to save the standing crops.
“The committee had announced that water would be released into HLC till January 20. But the canals were closed much earlier. As such some of the major standing crops like cotton, chilli, maize, and jowar are suffering and the yield is going to come down by a large extent,” he said.
