Mysuru/ Mandya: The Cauvery water dispute intensified Monday, with Kabini reservoir continuing to release 13,600 cusecs of water for the second consecutive day despite its inflow being nearly half the discharge.Outflow from the KRS dam is increased to 4,900 cusecs on Monday night, though there is no increase in the inflow.The development comes amid protests in Mandya against the Supreme Court’s direction to comply with CWMA’s order on water release to Tamil Nadu.Kabini was receiving an inflow of 7,747 cusecs, while its water level stood at 2,280.02 ft against the maximum level of 2,284ft as on Monday at 8am. Officials said water released from Kabini was being utilised for downstream requirements, including the release towards Tamil Nadu.Clarifying reports that water was also being released from Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) reservoir to Tamil Nadu, Srirangapatna MLA Ramesh Bandisiddegowda of Congress said the release from KRS was only for drinking water requirements.“As of now, water to Tamil Nadu is being released from Kabini and not from KRS. The water released from KRS is only for drinking purposes,” he said.Officials of Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited confirmed they had not received any communication from govt directing them to release water from KRS to Tamil Nadu. They said the current release from KRS was only to meet drinking water requirements.KRS reservoir recorded a water level of 109.55ft against its maximum level of 124.8ft. The inflow declined to 2,069 cusecs, while the outflow was 3,186 cusecs. Officials attributed the fall in inflow to the absence of significant rainfall in the catchment areas over the past few days. However, rain is expected in the KRS catchment over the next five days, which could improve inflows.With the lack of rainfall in the catchment areas of Harangi dam and Hemavathi reservoir in Gorur in Hassan district, KRS dam’s inflow is unlikely to rise substantially.Water released from KRS dam or Kabini reservoir flows to Tamil Nadu, while water released from Hemavathi or Harangi dams joins KRS dam.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s direction triggered protests in Mandya. Members of Bhoomi Thai Horata Samiti staged a demonstration in front of the Srirangapatna Taluk office under the leadership of farmer leader Nanjundegowda. Holding nooses as a symbolic expression of their anguish, the protesters accused state govt of failing to effectively present Karnataka’s case before the Supreme Court.They opposed any further release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and raised slogans against CWMA and the state govt, demanding that Karnataka’s interests be protected.Meanwhile, BJP workers staged a separate demonstration near the Sir M Visvesvaraya statue, holding empty pots to highlight the alleged water crisis and raising slogans against the state govt and chief minister DK Shivakumar.Tension prevailed when some protesters attempted to set fire to a tyre. Police intervened and seized it, leading to a scuffle in which PSI Mani sustained an injury to her hand. The protesters subsequently blocked the old Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. Police cleared the road and restored traffic movement.
