The Cauvery agitation peaked on Wednesday as thousands of farmers, including women and youth, stormed the Krishna Raja Sagar Reservoir (KRS) in Mandya district of Karnataka to protest the Supreme Court’s direction to release the river water to Tamil Nadu, despite the State deploying Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel at the dam site.
People in hundreds of buses, trucks, tractors and motorbikes made a beeline to the KRS dam and tried to barge into the reservoir violating prohibitory orders. They raised slogans, pelted stones at police and RAF personnel numbering more than 2,000.
The protestors also jumped into the river and protested by standing in the water. Two people, who jumped from a bridge in protest, suffered fractures and were shifted to a hospital by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists. Though there was poor response initially to the “KRS Chalo” call given by Cauvery River Protection Committee chairman
G Made Gowda, over 20,000 farmers from across Mandya came to the reservoir. They also stoned a police bus after some local legislators tried to court arrest.
Top police officers on duty were worried as the huge crowd started pouring in. They blocked vehicles carrying the protestors to the KRS dam since they found the situation difficult to handle with people turning violent, attacking politicians, police and the media.
Though irrigation officials reduced the outflow from 5,500 cusecs to 3,500 cusecs for some time during the protest, they increased it to 6,000 cusecs after 4 pm. Police officers, expecting the situation to go out of control, summoned more personnel and hired more than three dozen buses to arrest the agitators.
The protestors also pulled down barricades erected to stop them from entering the reservoir. Two RAF personnel suffered injuries after farmers threw stones and footwear at them. The protestors also blocked main roads, burnt tyres and even cooked on the roads paralysing traffic movement. They were seen running helter-skelter when police advanced to disperse them.
KRRS leader K S Puttanniah and Made Gowda set a 3 pm deadline to the government to stop water release from the KRS dam. They threatened to intensify their stir if their demands were not met.
Meanwhile, deputy commissioner Krishnaiah, IGP Amarkumar Pandey and SP Kaushalendra Kumar held talks with the leaders and warned them against resorting to violence. The leaders were helpless as the crowd was in no mood to listen to them or Made Gowda.
With no signs of his demands being met, Made Gowda threatened to stage a fast-unto-death at the dam site. He put off the fast to Thursday as authorities assured him that Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar will speak to him on the issue.
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