Vehicular traffic hit as farmers, seers stage dharna

Vehicular traffic on the busy Mysore-Bangalore highway was today severely disrupted as hundreds of farmers accompanied by several seers staged a dharna protesting the Cauvery River Authority order on releasing water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The farmers belonged to the Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi (Cauvery Protection Committee).

Some protesters burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Security has been tightened in Mandya as a precautionary measure, police said.

Balagangadharanath Swami of Sri Adhichunchanageri Mutt, who took part in the dharna, urged protesters to intensify Cauvery water agitaion to bring pressure on the central government to solve the issue.

Participating in the eleventh day of Cauvery agitation in Mandya, he asked the government not to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

The Narayan Gowda faction of 'Karnataka Rakshana Vedike' threatened to lay siege to central government offices in Karnataka to draw UPA government's attention to the Cauvery water issue.

The CRA had on September 19 ordered Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from September 20 to October 15, which triggered protests across the state.

Rakshana Vedike activists also threatened to lay siege to Raj Bhavan in Bangalore on September 25. "A public rally has been organised in Bangalore on September 26 and will be attended by 25,000 farmers," Gowda said.

The CRA meeting, convened by Prime Miniser Manmohan Singh, had ended in failure as both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu rejected Singh's award of 9000 cusecs to save standing crops in the delta region.