District-in-charge Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy meets protesters in Mandya district on Friday.
Credit: DH photo
After fortnight-long protests by various organisations against the releasing of Cauvery River water to Tamil Nadu from the Krishnaraja Sagar dam, authorities stopped the release of water on Friday.
Mandya witnessed protests after the Congress government released water from the Krishnaraja Sagar dam to Tamil Nadu.
However, as the outflow into the river was suspended on Friday, agitators ended their protest in Mandya district.
A decision on the future course of action would be taken after the Supreme Court verdict on September 21, according to farmer leaders.
According to directions of the Cauvery Water Management Authority, 6,000 to 7,000 cusecs of water was being released into the river to Tamil Nadu, triggering protests across the district by various organisations.
The water level of the dam was 98.06 ft against the maximum level of 124.80 ft on Friday (September 8) morning.
The authorities, who had reduced the outflow of water to 3,930 cusecs on Friday morning, later stopped it. The outflow on Thursday evening was 6,160 cusecs.
The state government, in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, explained that it may not be feasible to further release any water from the reservoirs in Karnataka after September 12.
The Cauvery Neeravari Nigam (CNN) started releasing 1,700 cusecs of water to canals on rotation basis from September 8 (Friday). It was increased to 3,500 cusecs by Friday night, the authorities said.
In all, 35.53 tmcft of water has been released to Tamil Nadu from July 7 to September 6. With the current water capacity of the dam, two rotations of water can be released to canals for agriculture. Later, it would be stored only for drinking, according to CNN sources.
District in-charge and Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy visited the Cauvery protest venue on Friday. “The government is committed to protecting the farmers. All steps are being taken to argue the case before the Supreme Court,” he said. Later, the agitators ended the protest.