Even as Karnataka faces a 12-hour bandh after water from the Cauvery river was released to Tamil Nadu as per the directions of the Supreme Court, across the border, farmers in Trichy district are also protesting demanding a permanent solution to the issue.
Burying themselves under the sand with only their heads above the ground, around 25 farmers and their families protested at Mambala Salai in Trichy district on Friday over the decades-long dispute between the two states.
They demanded that the Central government resolve the inter-state water dispute and find a permanent solution to the Cauvery issue. The farmers also hit out at the Centre for not doing enough for Tamil Nadu’s farmers and also demanded that all rivers in the country be nationalised.
The protestors were detained by the police later.
The Supreme Court had on Monday ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for ten days in order to save the samba crop.
In 2007, the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) gave its final order allocating water between the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. While the Centre notified the final order of the CWDT in February 2013, the Centre is yet to set up the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee to regulate the release of water and avoid disputes.