Cauvery cauldron boils; farmers ready for sacrifice

Mysore, Feb 25 (UNI) The quiet flowing Cauvery, which has turned into a river of sorrow for more than a century due to the prolonged dispute on sharing of its waters between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, is back in turmoil with farmers agitated over the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's final award.

The emotional bond of the people with the river is so vibrant that the farmers in the Cauvery basin of the state are prepared for any sacrifice to fight for a fair share of the waters. Agitated over the allocation of 419 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu as against 270 tmc ft awarded to the state, farmers in the basin districts had taken to the streets.

The protests had not only crippled the economy of these districts, especially Mysore which heavily depends on tourist inflow, but also affected traffic between Mysore and Bangalore.

At last count on Friday, more than 500 agitations have been held since February 5 when the award was declared by the Tribunal, affecting life in the districts of Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, besides parts of Bangalore Rural.

The Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi, spearheading the agitations, was of the view that the award had sounded a death knell to the agrarian economy of the region and thousands of farmers would become jobless as their farm lands would be parched for the want of water and they would be forced to migrate to other areas.

Farmers have taken 'padyatra' from the Kabini and KRS reservoirs to the Raj Bhavan in Bangalore to submit their plea to the Centre, through the Governor, about their plight.

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