Mandya: Opposition to the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu intensified in Mandya on Thursday, with Congress MLA Ravikumar Ganiga, farmer leaders and Kannada activists urging the govt to prioritise the irrigation needs of farmers in the Cauvery basin.A day after the Cauvery Irrigation Consultative Committee (ICC) meeting chaired by water resources and Mandya district minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, Ganiga warned that releasing water to Tamil Nadu before meeting local agricultural requirements could trigger strong protests from farmers.Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) Mandya district president Induvalu Chandrashekar demanded adequate water for agriculture. He urged the govt to release water from the KRS reservoir in six phases instead of the four phases approved by the ICC, with each phase lasting 22 days to ensure water reaches the tail-end areas of Maddur and Malavalli. He also called for large-scale rainwater harvesting measures in Bengaluru.State JD(S) working president and former minister SR Mahesh urged the govt to release water from the Hemavathi, Harangi, KRS and Kabini reservoirs into canals to facilitate irrigation in their command areas. Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, he demanded that the govt stop releasing water to Tamil Nadu and instead utilise it for irrigation and filling lakes across the state.Activists to lay siege to KRS dam on Aug 26Meanwhile, KRRS activists and members of Kannada Sena staged a symbolic protest at Sanjay Circle in Mandya by drinking water from their cupped palms to highlight the shortage faced by farmers. The protesters later blocked the old Bengaluru-Mysuru highway for some time.Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj, who led the protest, demanded an immediate halt to water releases to Tamil Nadu and announced plans to lay siege to the KRS dam on Aug 26. Police intervened and briefly took him into custody.As of Thursday, the water level in the KRS reservoir stood at 109.1ft against its full reservoir level of 124.8ft. The reservoir was receiving an inflow of 1,628 cusecs, while the outflow stood at 2,294 cusecs.Water release from the Kabini reservoir in Mysuru district was further increased on Thursday. The discharge, which stood at 13,600 cusecs on Aug 16, was raised to 14,392 cusecs. The inflow to the reservoir at 8am was 6,957 cusecs.Against its maximum water level of 2,284ft, the Kabini reservoir stood at 2,276.7ft on Thursday. Its storage declined to 15.2tmcft, down from 17.5tmcft on Sunday, a reduction of 2.3tmcft in five days. The reservoir currently holds about 78% of its total capacity of 19.5tmcft.
