Kannada activists protest formation of Cauvery Management Board

Mysuru: Expressing their opposition to the proposal to form the

Cauvery Management Board

, members of the Mysuru District Kannada Activists’ Association staged a protest near the Mysuru Law Courts on Thursday. It was a unique agitation insofar as the participants bound their hands and legs with ropes, in what appeared to be an expression of the state’s bleak prospects should the board be formed.

Pointing to the problems the state would be faced with by the formation of the board, the protesters said, “If the board is set up, as many as 90 cities and 20 taluks, and two-thirds of Bengaluru will be faced with acute drinking water shortage.”

They further added that, Karnataka would be reduced to the state of begging for a bucket of water should the Centre go ahead with the plan. Highlighting the adverse impact that the formation of the board would have on the

reservoirs

in the Cauvery basin in the state, they said, “If the board is formed, administration of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS), Kabini, Hemavathi and Harangi dams will all be handed over to Tamil Nadu as a gift. Karnataka will not have any control over the water, and the dams will merely exist in the state, while the resource will be under the board’s control.”

The protesters pointed out that the four reservoirs in the basin had been supplying water for irrigating vast tracts of agricultural land. “It would be disastrous for the farming community in the region if the board is formed,” they rued.

The agitators also expressed their displeasure over lack of collaboration among the political parties in the state over resolving the Cauvery dispute. “The understanding and coordination we see among political parties in Tamil Nadu is missing in Karnataka,” they said.


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