BENGALURU/ HUBBALLI: The Mahadayi row came to a boiling point on Wednesday with north Karnataka districts observing a bandh and the farmers on a protest in Bengaluru setting a deadline of January-end to the state government to take steps to resolve the issue.
Normal life was hit in six north Karnataka districts following the bandh called by farmer groups over the delay in getting Mahadayi river water to meet the drinking water needs of the drought-prone areas of the region. The dawn-to-dusk bandh was called by Mahadayi Kalasa Banduri Nala Horata Samanvaya Samiti, an umbrella organisation spearheading the agitation. While it was total in Dharwad, Gadag, Bagalkot and Haveri, it received a lukewarm response in Belagavi and Koppal districts.
In Hubballi, the bandh was peaceful except for a few Kannada activists slitting their forearms at the city railway station. The police immediately swung into action and shifted the activists to Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences hospital.
The Chennamma Circle in Hubballi became the epicentre of the protests as members of different organisations gathered there to demand settlement of the water dispute. Buses and autorickshaws remained off roads after 9 am and protests were held at all major junctions. Majority of the shops remained shut and protesters torched tyres and effigies.
Protests also echoed miles away in the state capital Bengaluru, where Mahadayi protagonists and the BJP have launched separate agitations. The farmers of Karnataka Raita Sena demanded that the state government take an all-party delegation along with the farmers to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Sena, which withdrew its protest outside the BJP office, threatened to launch an agitation in front of the Chief Minister’s residence if their demands are not fulfilled by January end.
Meanwhile, the state BJP unit staged a protest in front of KPCC office in Bengaluru, alleging that the Congress government was trying to reap electoral benefits by politicising the issue.A week after the state BJP triumphantly declared that it has found a solution to Mahadayi river water dispute with Goa, the move seems to have boomeranged on it.