Bengaluru: Mandya farmers' protest over water crisis enters 6th day

The farmers protest in Mandya entered the sixth day on Wednesday. The farmers have been demanding diversion of Cauvery and Hemavati waters to their canals in order to save their produce.

"At this moment we are facing a deficit of water in our reservoirs. We have 75-80 TMC of water in our Cauvery reservoir. It's not possible to release water to them. But we are requesting the government to release water to our standing crops and for our animals. If not we will continue our protest and we are thinking further possibilities," farmers' leader Darshan Puttananiah told ANI.

Farmers in Mandya have been protesting since last five days, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday shifted the onus to the Centre and asked it to direct the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to resolve the issue.

"Supreme Court has also granted permission to the state to release the water at the time of emergency. Now we have 80 TMC of water and we are demanding water for our standing crops and animals. State government should look into this matter and must release water to save the life of animals and farmers in Mandya region," farmers leader Ravi Ganiga told ANI.

Tamil Nadu, which too has been grappling with the scarcity of water, on Thursday demanded that 9.19 TMC feet of water should be released immediately in accordance with the recent decision of the CWMA.

Participating in a meeting of the committee, chaired by its head Naveen Kumar, officials from Tamil Nadu said the Cauvery Water Management Board on May 21 had recommended release of 9.19 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic) feet of water without delay.

Farmers in Maddur, Mandya also held a protest inside the Water Management Board campus, demanding drinking water for irrigation.