The delta districts across Tamil Nadu observed a day-long bandh on Wednesday. The bandh was called by the Cauvery Delta Protection Movement against the Karnataka government for failing to release Cauvery water. The bandh was scheduled from 6 am to 6 pm in the Thanjavur, Tiruchirapalli, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Pudukkottai, Ariyalur, Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai districts. More than 45,000 shops had their shutters down in Thanjavur, while over 12,000 remained shut in Nagapattinam. This was a similar scenario across all the eight districts.
All political parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Congress, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Left parties, farmers’ associations and traders’ unions took part. All shops and business establishments downed their shutters to show their support for the farmers, but public transportation, educational institutions and government offices functioned routinely. Shops which sell essential commodities, like pharmacies, also remained open.
Between September 28 and October 15, Karnataka had to release of 3,000 cusecs of Cauvery water at Biligundlu as per the ruling of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC). However, Karnataka cited poor rainfall this year and severe drought in parts of their state, and the water was not released for farmers in the Delta regions in Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka has filed a petition in the Supreme Court as it wants the CWRC to review its decision based on the state’s farmers’ plight. On October 9, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to ask Karnataka to release Cauvery water as per the CWRC directive. All parties passed this resolution except the BJP which staged a walk-out citing DMK’s “double standards”.
Karnataka observed a bandh on September 29 protesting the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The 12-hour bandh was peaceful, but the state was at a standstill as shops across all the major cities and towns were shut. Educational institutions and public transportation did operate and there were sporadic demonstrations across the state. Pro-Kannada activists wanted the CWRC to rework the water release plan as Karnataka was seeing rain deficit and drought.