Bengaluru/Chamarajanagar/Mandya: Inter-state bus services between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were affected in Chamarajanagar district on Saturday.
This was the result of a bandh call given by farmers’ associations and the Opposition parties in the neighbouring state protesting Mekedatu project taken up by Karnataka.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation operates 45 buses to Tamil Nadu via Punajur, six through Palar and 16 buses via Gundlupet. However, all these buses plied only up to Tamil Nadu border on Saturday. Similarly, the Tamil Nadu State Road Transport Corporation too operated its buses up to TN border.
“ The KSRTC buses did not enter Tamil Nadu in the wake of the bandh call. Only 20 buses from Chamarajanagar depot plied up to Punajanur border. There have been no reports of any untoward incident,” said KSRTC in-charge divisional controller of Chamarajanagar, K H Srinivas.
KSRTC Chief Traffic Manager Sangappa told Decan Herald that they did not ply any schedule to Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, the activists of Kannada outfits took out a protest march in Chamarajanagar condemning Tamil Nadu’s opposition to Mekedatu project.
They said that the Karnataka government was only uitlising its legitimate share of water and it was not right on the part of Tamil Nadu to oppose the project.
In Mandya, the members of the Action Commitee for Mekedatu Project staged a protest against Tamil Nadu condemning its opposition to the project. They claimed that the Mekedatu dam would utilise the water reaching the sea, after releasing 192 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu.
They said that the award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal allows Karnataka to take up a power project utilising Cauvery water.
Will tackle issue legally, says CM
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the State government would stand its ground with regard to the Mekedatu project. Speaking to media persons after taking participating in a programme in Vidhana Soudha, Siddaramaiah said that Tamil Nadu was unnecessarily creating problems with regard to the project, for political gain. The government would, however, tackle it effectively through a legal battle, the chief minister said.
Siddaramaiah said that Karnataka was releasing water to Tamil Nadu as per the directive of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, and despite this, the neighbouring State was causing trouble. “The project has been conceived to facilitate drinking water supply for Karnataka, from the State’s share. Tamil Nadu has no say in the matter,” the chief minister added.
