The Cauvery protests reached a peak on Sunday as the state started releasing 9,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water to Tamil Nadu as per the directions of the Cauvery River Authority, which was reinforced by the Supreme Court.
Protests started even before sunrise on Sunday and hundreds of farmers blocked traffic on the busy Mysore-Bengaluru highway at all important intersections throughout the day. Fortunately, no untoward incidents were reported and the police kept a tight vigil over protesters. The entire Mandya district came to a halt as people observed a voluntary bandh. With traffic blocked at Maddur, Malavalli and Srirangapatna, the police were forced to diver traffic through Ramanagaram and Kanakapura routes.
Over 200 protesters, including Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leader K.S. Puttanaiah, were detained by the police near KRS dam at Srirangapatna in Mandya district when they tried to lay siege to the dam asking authorities to immediately stop release of water to Tamil Nadu. They were later released.
Similarly, around 80 agitators, including farmer leader Badagalpur Nagendra, were detained near Kabini dam in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysore. They were later released in Mysore. Near Maddur, hundreds of protesters blocked the highway with bullock carts and cooked breakfast on the road as part of protest. Cauvery River Protection Committee chairman G. Madegowda called for an emergency meeting on Monday and summoned all public representatives of Cauvery basin districts to decide the next course. He also asked public representatives of Mandya district to submit their resignations en masse immediately.
Mr Puttanaiah said both Central and state governments have forgotten core values of democracy and were using Cauvery issue for political gains. “PM Manmohan Singh has taken a politically-motivated arbitrary decision without understanding the ground realities”.
He asked the state government to compensate every rupee the farmers have lost due to its inaction. “During the 2002 Cauvery dispute, farmers suffered losses of Rs 400 crore when the then S.M. Krishna government released water to Tamil Nadu. But the government compensated only Rs 10 crore. This should not happen this time around,” he said. Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists burnt Tamil newspapers and an effigy of Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa in Mandya. They also stopped Tamil Nadu vehicles from entering the state at Chamarajanagar.
Fear gripped Tamilians living in the state, especially in border areas. Tamil sanghams in Mysore, Chamarajanagar and Kodagu districts expressed support to Karnataka on the Cauvery issue and decided to enroll themselves as members of the Cauvery River Protection Committee.
Mysore district in-charge minister S.A. Ramadas defended the government decision to release water and shifted the blame on central government.