K'taka: Police tightens security at KRS Dam as farmers' protest enters day 8

Farmers' protest in Mandya entered into the eighth day on Friday as the state government deployed additional forces to tighten security around Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) Dam.

The state police has instructed tourists to avoid visiting the reservoir on Friday as the farmers are expected to stage a protest there.

Farmers in Mandya have been protesting since last Friday, demanding diversion of Cauvery and Hemavati waters to their canals in order to save their produce.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday had shifted the onus to the Centre and asked it to direct the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to resolve the issue. Last month, CWMA had asked Karnataka to release 9.19 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) to lower riparian states for the month of June.

"At this moment we are facing a deficit of water in our reservoirs. We have 75-80 TMC of water in our Cauvery reservoir. It's not possible to release water to them. But we are requesting the government to release water to our standing crops and for our mals. If not we will continue our protest and we are thinking further possibilities," farmers' leader Darshan Puttanah told on Wednesday.

Tamil Nadu, which too has been grappling with the scarcity of water, last week, demanded in a CWMA meeting that 9.19 TMC feet of water should be released immediately in accordance with the recent decision of the committee.

( With inputs from ANI )