Farmers set up community oven on railway tracks, cook food

The agitating farmers of Mandya district in Karnataka added a new flavour to the burning Cauvery cauldron by setting up an oven right on the railway track and preparing food items for the consumption of the protestors.

The farmers resorted to this novel form of protest at Gejjalgere in Mandya district along the Bangalore-Mysore railway track, which blocked train traffic for several hours on the route.

Several long distance trains, including Tamil Nadu-bound Tanjavur Express and Chamundi Express, were halted for several hours due to the protest. The farmers are protesting against the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal’s recent order allocating 419 tmc feet to Tamil Nadu against Karnataka’s share of 270 tmc ft.

Similiar “community ovens” were set up even on the Bangalore-Mysore highway with farmers stirring up local delicacies, which were savoured by the protesting farmers. The blocking for the railway line and the highway prolonged the journey of road and train passengers between Bangalore and Mysore.

The virtual crawl of vehicles on the highway became the slowest between Mandya and Maddur, where farmers had put up road blockades at several places. The farmers had even herded cattle on the highway to block the traffic.

Karnataka’s Minister for Co-operation G T Deve Gowda, who left Mysore for Bangalore to attend the legislature session resuming on Monday, was detained at Hanakere near Maddur. He was forced by the protestors to alight from his car, join their protest and shout slogans against the Tribunal’s order.

During his three-hour-long detention in the highway, Gowda lent a hand in the cooking process by stirring the huge vessel. Later, he squatted on the highway and had food with hundreds of protestors.

KARNATAKA SHUTDOWN: Meanwhile, Karnataka Government has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure that there are no untoward incidents during the state-wide shutdown called by various Kannada organizations today.

Karnataka’s Home Minister M P Prakash told reporters that security has been tightened with the deployment of extra paramilitary forces, besides police personnel from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Additional forces will be deployed in the sensitive districts of Bangalore, Mandya and Mysore.

Kannada chauvinist and MLA Vatal Nagaraj has urged the Government not to hold the State Legislature session on Monday in view of the shutdown. “We will prevent the legislators and Ministers, who come to attend the legislature session, from entering the State Secretariat”, he said.

Train services are likely to be affected and public transport in urban areas is expected to be paralyzed. Schools and educational institutions have already declared a holiday in view of the shutdown.