Farmers outfits and pro-Kannada organisations have jointly declared a strike across Bengaluru on Tuesday demanding that the state government does not release water to Tamil Nadu. To raise their demand, a protest march is scheduled at 11 am on Tuesday from Town Hall to Mysore Bank Circle.
The protesters disagree with the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA)'s order asking the Karnataka government to release 5,000 cusecs water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu for 15 days.
Kuruburu Shanthakumar, state Sugarcane Farmers Association president, has appealed to schools, colleges, IT companies, and the film chamber to grant a day off. He also requested the state government to look into the issue at a special assembly session.
On Tuesday, public transportation, shops, banks, offices, restaurants, schools, and colleges are likely to stay closed.
However, hospitals, medical services, government offices, supermarkets, as well as police, fire, and other emergency services will continue to operate on September 26.
Amid the Cauvery water-sharing dispute, DMK leader TKS Elangovan said on Saturday that Karnataka does not own Cauvery. The DMK spokesperson said, "Karnataka is not the owner of Cauvery. No river which starts from a state, that state cannot claim the river to be its own. Rivers will have to flow, it has to support the lower riparian areas. That is the international understanding."
He further added, "If the river starts and stops within that state, they can take the water. But if it starts from that one area and flows through other states, the water has to be divided."