Bandh call received partial response in Udupi

By Snehalatha, Udupi
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 07 October 2012: Bandh called by the Kannada outfits over the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu received only partial response in Udupi district. Though there was support for the bandh, actually bandh did not virtually take place. Some associations conducted road blocks here and there, procession and bike rally, but other than that there was no difference as the district was unaffected and life went on as usual.

 

Jaya Karnataka Sanghatane, Karnataka State Raitha Sangha and Jilla Nagarika Samiti jointly conducted protest under the banner ‘united cauvery fight’ on NH66, burned tires on the middle of the highway, blocked the road for some time, shouted slogans and showed their existence.

 

In Bindoor the College students conducted protest procession and shop keepers symbolically closed their shops for some time showing their support on Cauvery issue. In Perdoor some shops symbolically closed for some time and then later opened and carried out their business as usual.

 

 

Also, in Padubidri Raitha Sangha activists blocked NH66. In Hebri Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Praveen Shetty group) activists burned the effigy of Tamilnadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha and expressed their anger.

 

South Kenara Photographer’s Association Udupi District Unit members conducted bike rally in front of Gandhi statue near service bus station and then went to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in Manipal and expressed their stand for Cauvery.

 

But other than this, all the business activities were running as usual. Hotel and Shops were open and their business was running. Auto rickshaw and taxis conducted their business. Buses were running as usual, but the numbers of passengers were less than usual says the bus managers. In the offices and departments the work was as usual.

 

But, when it is said bandh a kind of unwanted feeling will be there with everyone, so some of the working people took leave and stayed at home. Also in the Schools and colleges the number of presence was less than usual.

 

The sharing of waters of the river Cauvery has been the source of a serious conflict between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The genesis of this conflict rests in two controversial agreements; one signed in 1892 and another in 1924 between the erstwhile Madras Presidency and Princely State of Mysore.

 

The state of Karnataka contends that it does not receive its due share of water from the river as Tamil Nadu. Karnataka claims that these agreements were skewed heavily in favour of the Madras Presidency, and has demanded a renegotiated settlement based on "equitable sharing of the waters".

 

Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, pleads that it has already developed almost 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km2) of land and as a result has come to depend very heavily on the existing pattern of usage. Any change in this pattern, it says, will adversely affect the livelihood of millions of farmers in the state.

 

Decades of negotiations between the parties bore no fruit. The Government of India then constituted a tribunal in 1990 to look into the matter. After hearing arguments of all the parties involved for the next 16 years, the tribunal delivered its final verdict on 5 February 2007.

 

In its verdict, the tribunal allocated 419 billion ft³ (12 km³) of water annually to Tamil Nadu and 270 billion ft³ (7.6 km³) to Karnataka; 30 billion ft³ (0.8 km³) of Cauvery river water to Kerala and 7 billion ft³ (0.2 km³) to Pondicherry. The dispute however, appears not to have concluded, as all four states deciding to file review petitions seeking clarifications and possible renegotiation of the order.