JOIN USFarmers, under the banner of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, observed Independence Day as ‘Black Day’, staging protests in Mandya on Monday.
While a faction of KRRS staged a protest at Sanjay Talkies Circle, the other faction protested wearing black bands near the district stadium, where the I-Day programme was being held. The farmers, in unison, demanded that the government should continue to release water into the canals from Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir to save the standing crops.
They urged the government to come up with a National Water policy on river water sharing, and demanded that water being released to Tamil Nadu be stopped immediately and conserve it for drinking purpose.
“The authorities should stop advising farmers against paddy cultivation. Water should be released into canals on rotation system. MySugar factory in the district should be reopened and Rs 3,000 should be fixed as MSP per tonne of sugarcane.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should convene a meeting of chief ministers of the riparian states to discuss the Kalasa-Banduri issue. The cases registered against those arrested during the Mahadayi agitation should be drop,” the agitating farmers demanded.
They submitted a memorandum to District Minister D K Shivakumar in this regard.