Cauvery water issue: TN Delta districts to observe bandh on Oct 11

Chennai, Oct 8

The farmer organisations of Delta districts in Tamil Nadu have called for a bandh on October 11 in protest against Karnataka for not releasing water from Cauvery. The organisers said that the farmers would conduct protest in front of Central government offices on that day.

The DMK farmers' organisation has also joined the protest to be held on October 11.

The Confederation of Farmers Associations from the Cauvery Delta districts of Tamil Nadu in a meeting held on Saturday said that there would be a bandh in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Myladuthurai, Ariyalur and Cuddalore districts of the state.

DMK farmers' wing leader, AKS Vijayan, in a statement said that the water from Mettur dam was released on customary date of June 12 for delta irrigation and farmers took up Kuruvai cultivation with the expectations of adequate water. However, Karnataka side did not release water, leading to withering of crops.

He said that around 2 lakh acres of kuruvai paddy cultivation had withered and farmers' associations have joined hands to protest against the bias of Karnataka side.

AKS Vijayan also said that the Karnataka BJP and Kannada organisations have organised strike twice against Tamil Nadu despite having 80 per cent storage of water.