Bengaluru: More than 70 people have been arrested amid protests by farmers in three districts of north Karnataka. The protesters are up against the state government after a river dispute tribunal ruled against Karnataka in the Mahadayi river water dispute.
The Mahaydai Water Disputes Tribunal, headed by JN Panchal, rejected the state's petition for 7.6 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from the river, citing various grounds, including ecological damage the project may cause.
At Navalgund in Dharwad district, police fired teargas and resorted to caning near a bus depot to disperse an angry mob from torching state-run buses parked in the bays.
Besides the ruling Congress government in the state, leaders of national and regional political parties were criticised for failing to ensure drinking water from the river to the affected region, which has been reeling under severe drought over the last two years.
The project to supply drinking water to Hubballi-Dharwad, Gadag, Bagalkot and Belagavi districts from the river through Kalsa-Banduri canals in the Malabrabha basin has remained incomplete due to standoff between the two states since a decade.
Protests were also held at Ballari, Bengaluru, Mandya, Ramanagaram against the verdict, which deprived drinking water supply to the affected cities, towns and villages of five north-west districts in the state.
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