With water levels in the Krishna Raja Sagar dam reaching an all-time low, the Karnataka government on Friday, decided to release water to Tamil Nadu from the Hemavati dam, located in Hassan district.

Reacting to this development, over 200 JD(S) workers protested in Hassan, demanding that water be released to their district as well.

Residents, farmers and JD(S) workers carried out a march to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and also held a procession of donkeys and sheep.

The animals had placards around their necks, which read ‘save us’.

Veteran JD(S) leader and former Prime Minister, HD Devegowda, criticised the Siddaramaiah government for tackling the drought “inefficiently”.

“The regions from Yegachinala to Hassan have no water. Residents of these areas have no drinking water. They are receiving water only twice a week. Their crops have failed and even the cattle have no water to sustain. I was the Chief Minister when the dam was built and now I have to witness a situation where even though there is water in the dam, it is not being distributed to people in the state,” Devegowda said.

He also issued a warning of conducting a hunger strike outside CM Siddaramaiah’s house if the government continued to supply water from Hemavati Dam to Tamil Nadu.

“I have lost patience with the way the CM is tackling the situation. Instead of holding a meeting and discussing the issue, the CM is taking wrong decision. He has to tell the people from where he is going get the water for people in Karnataka,” Devegowda said.

“The live storage in the Hemavati dam as on Saturday is 2.74 TMC and is 50% lower than the dam’s capacity last year. The inflow of water is 0 cusecs currently, while the outflow is 5000 cusecs. With this situation, the reservoir will not be able to supply water until May,” dam officials said.