Cauvery river water row: Govt will not try to curtail protests, Bengaluru bandh, says Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Monday stated his authorities will not curtail “Bengaluru bandh” known as by some farmers’ organisations on Tuesday as protests over the discharge of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu has intensified. However, Siddaramaiah underlined the significance of upkeep of peace, reported PTI.

The Karnataka chief minister additionally stated his authorities will place its argument extra forcefully earlier than the Supreme Court on the discharge of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, when it subsequent comes up for listening to, and is dedicated to defending the curiosity of the state.

“We had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the orders of the Cauvery Water Management Authority, and Regulation Committee. The court rejected our partition, also Tamil Nadu’s. They (TN) initially sought 24,000 cusecs, then 7,200 cusecs, we said we can’t even give 5,000 cusecs, as there is no water,” PTI reported quoting Siddaramaiah.

“The Apex Court did not accept it, and the matter is coming before the Court on September 26. We will place our argument more forcefully,” he stated.

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Responding to a query on protests and bandhs being known as on the Cauvery water concern, the Karnataka chief minister stated, “in a democracy, we (government) will not curtail protests, but BJP and JD(S) is trying to do politics on the issue.”

Meanwhile, a number of Kannada outfits, below the banner ‘Kannada Okkuta’ led by Kannada activists Vatal Nagaraj have known as for state-wide bandh on September 29.

The Supreme Court on September 21 refused to intrude with the order of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) which endorsed the instructions of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) to the Karnataka authorities to launch 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from September 13.

Karnataka has been sustaining that it’s not able to launch water, taking into consideration its personal want for ingesting water and irrigation for standing crops within the Cauvery basin areas, as there was water shortage due to deficit monsoon rains.

Noting that the federal government will do all the things within the curiosity of the state, Deputy Chief Minister D.Ok. Shivakumar stated, “We will not try to control the protests, but peace has to be maintained and people should not face any difficulty.”

“Our party people too called and spoke to me about the protest, I said, it’s your right and protect it…but one has to understand about court orders before calling for protests or bandh, just giving such calls for media publicity is not right, as such calls may have legal repercussions,”

Shivakumar stated including that, protest is everybody’s proper in a democracy and it will not be curtailed.

Responding to a query whether or not the bandh calls will have authorized repercussions on Karnataka’s case within the court docket, Shivakumar stated, “as a Minister I’m unable to say anything, as I have to respect the Court, and also safeguard the people. My situation and that of the government is like — catch 22 situation, between the devil and the deep blue sea.” Whatever it’s, the federal government will have to shield the curiosity of the state, he stated. “It is our bounden duty,” he added.