Cauvery: Protests continue, screening of Vijay’s film stalled
Amid continued protests by farmers against any move to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, activists of a Kannada outfit stalled the screening of Tamil
Amid continued protests by farmers against any move to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, activists of a Kannada outfit stalled the screening of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay-starrer Jana Nayagan in Mandya on Thursday. Activists belonging to Karunada Vijaya Sene, who staged a demonstration outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mandya, marched to Gurushree cinema in the town and demanded that the management stop screening the Tamil movie. The management cancelled the screening of the movie in view of the demand by the protesters, who had laid siege to the cinema. They also tore posters of the movie outside the cinema and raised slogans against the directions issued by Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) to release 3,500 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu every day for 15 days.
Meanwhile, protests by various farmers organizations against any move to release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu continued on Thursday. Activists associated with Mandya district Raitha Hitarakshana Samithi staging a demonstration in front of Sir M Visvesvaraya’s statue in the park on the old Mysuru-Bengaluru highway. Farmers’ leader Sunanda Jayaram and other farmers’ leaders participated in the protest. The activists urged the Government to remain firm in its resolve against release of water to Tamil Nadu in the face of directions by the CWRC. Approach SC: BJP Meanwhile, accusing the Congress government of failing to protect the interests of Karnataka with respect on Cauvery river water sharing, the BJP has urged the State to consider the possibility of filing an appeal before the Supreme Court.
In a release, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashok accused Mr. Shivakumar of not paying enough attention to protecting the State’s interests with respect to Cauvery at a time when the State was gripped by serious drought and the groundwater table was receding. Ashok declared that the BJP would back any fight to be taken up by the State government to protect the interests of farmers and the self esteem of the State. He urged the Congress government to ensure that its first priority should be to protect the interests of people of Karnataka rather than political calculations.
Expressing concern that standing crops in the Cauvery basin had wilted owing to prolonged dry spell, he urged the government to immediately take up a crop survey and announce compensation.
The BriefWire