Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday night took to Twitter and announced that the state has decided to follow the Supreme Court order and release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. He urged farmers in the state to stay calm and restrained and said the state government decided to follow the court directive despite "severe hardship". However, the chief minister added that he would approach the top court and ask for a modification of the order, ANI reported.
The apex court on September 5 had asked Karnataka to release an additional 15,000 cusecs of water to the neighbouring state for 10 days. The state government decided to adhere to the court directive though the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal Secular party expressed their reservations against the move at the all-party meeting on Tuesday, The Indian Express reported. Siddaramaiah said, "The Karnataka government was ready to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for six days. We stated this in the Supreme Court. The court has ordered us to release 15,000 cusecs for 10 days. We will obey the order."The chief minister said the government will try to fulfil the drinking water needs of Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mandya, where farmers and pro-Karnataka groups have been protesting against the court verdict. Several incidents of violence have also been reported from the region.
On Tuesday, the Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi (Cauvery Protection Committee) called for a bandh in Mandya, where politics on issues related to the river are commonplace. Around 700 buses from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu and Kerala stopped plying on Tuesday, and a major highway in Karnataka was blocked during protests.
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