Mandya: The District Farmers' Committee spearheading the Cauvery agitation in the wake of Supreme Court's directive to Karnataka to release 4,500 CUSECS of water a day to Tamil Nadu, has decided to take a "padayatra" (march on foot) to Bangalore to urge the government to protect the standing crops of the farmers in the Cauvery basin.

Prominent leaders of various farmers' organisations at a meeting of the committee in Mandya criticised the stand taken by the Centre and also the state for releasing water.

They felt that if "more water is released to Tamil Nadu, there could a severe crisis of drinking water" in the cities and towns of the Cauvery belt in Karnataka.

G Made Gowda, former M P and Committee Chairman said the Chief Minister S M Krishna had made a "blunder by releasing water to Tamil Nadu and people will not excuse him".

The Committee had already written a letter to the Chief Minister, pleading with him to save the standing crops in view of the severe drought faced by the state, and also waive the interest on loan given to farmers who were in distress. It (Committee) however did not receive any reply for this, he told reporters.

The farmers, Madegowda said, had launched a month-long agitation in September 2002 after the Supreme Court gave its directive, to draw the attention of the Centre and the state on the issue. "And instead of solving the water crisis, both the Centre and the state government are playing politics", he alleged.

The Chief Minister has not only gone back on his promise to the farmers' during his padayatra but has also flouted the resolution passed by the state legislature that the interim order of the Cauvery water dispute tribunal should not be carried out. "It is contempt of the House", he said.

The farmers have no alternative now but to resort to an agitation and if the government does not respond to their demands, they will intensify their stir, he added.

PTI