BENGALURU: Farmers battling drought in India’s southern state of Karnataka began a day-long strike today to protest against the sharing of water from a river that also runs through the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
Police urged calm with all schools and public places staying shut, as thousands of farmers and trade union members prepared to hold rallies after protests began this week in the tech hub of Bengaluru, despite a court order to share the waters.
“We will not let water from our river enter into the other state at a time when our farmlands are barren,” said T Ramanujan, the leader of a farmers’ union in Karnataka.
With millions of farmers in both states, the dispute has become a long-standing legal battle, and the protests forced multinational companies in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, to advise employees to work from home.
The street protests followed a court order for Karnataka to release 141 cubic metres of the Cauvery River’s water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days this month.
The government of Tamil Nadu says the river is a divided resource and it cannot be deprived of its rightful share of water.
“I have sown seeds but the ground is dry due to scanty rainfall and now we have shortage of supply from Cauvery river,” said S Kumar, a 48-year-old farmer in the state’s district of Pudukkottai. “Small farmers are struggling this year.”
The Cauvery River originates in the Karnataka region of Talakaveri and flows through Tamil Nadu before entering the Bay of Bengal.
