BENGALURU: Protests against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu showed signs of abating in Mandya, the epicentre of agitation, and other districts in the basin, as Karnataka government braced for the next step in the tussle.
Sporadic protests by farmers and pro-Kannada outfits were reported in Mandya, Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and other places in the Cauvery basin, a day after the state observed a bandh to protest the Supreme Court order asking Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu.
Road traffic between Bengaluru and Mysuru was normal today, barring short blockades by protesters, after it was disrupted for five days in Mandya district, the worst hit by agitation, police said. Business establishments, including hotels, functioned normally while Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses are plying buses in rural parts of Mandya district.
Karnataka Water Resources Minister M B Patil today said the state would submit an appeal to the Cauvery Supervisory Committee against Tamil Nadu's demand for release of more Cauvery water.
"Tamil Nadu has already approached the supervisory committee asking for more Cauvery water... we will be submitting the counter appeal to the panel... explaining the hardships and difficulties being faced by the people due to the Supreme Court order to release water," Patil told reporters in New Delhi.
Tamil Nadu government had approached the Committee on September seven with its demand for more water. Patil, along with his legal team and officials, held deliberations with Karnataka Counsel Fali S Nariman in Delhi. The Minister said the state had already written to the panel, informing it about the difficulties and problems faced by the people due to the Supreme Court's direction.
He said the state would also apprise the panel about the ground realities prevalent in the Cauvery basin, Patil said. The Supreme Court had on September five directed Karnataka government to release 15,000 cusecs to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to meet the irrigation requirement for Samba paddy crop.
Earlier, Patil, speaking to a Kannada TV channel, objected to Tamil Nadu's demand for more water terming it "baseless and impractical."
Karnataka had also written to the supervisory panel seeking an expert inspection team headed by an officer of the rank of a chief engineer as was done by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee in October 2012, to study the ground realities in the Cauvery basin.
The panel, headed by Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar, will meet on September 12 to decide the quantum of Cauvery water to be released to Tamil Nadu and other states. Meanwhile, the farmers' leader spearheading the protest in Mandya said the agitaion would continue till they get justice.
"We have decided to continue the Cauvery agitation till we get justice," said G.Madegowda, President of Cauvery Horata Samithi. Government should compensate crop loss and should stop water release to Tamil Nadu, he told reporters, adding, the people of Cauvery basin were struggling for their survival.
"Instead of coming to rescue of our farmers Karnataka government is so adamantly releasing water," he said. BJP activists in Mandya submitted a petition to the district police complaining against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah following caning of the protesting farmers near the KRS reservoir yesterday during the bandh.
"The BJP activists have submitted a petition against the Chief Minister, and we are scrutinising it," Mandya Superintendent of Police Sudheer Kumar Reddy told PTI.
Before submitting the petition, the BJP activists staged protest in front of the office of the Superintendent of Police, accusing Siddaramaiah of "cheating" the farmers by permitting release of Cauvery water.