Tight security in Bangalore and Cauvery basin districts of Karnataka

With Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal set to pronounce its final verdict today, the Bangalore police took more than 100 anti-social elements into preventive custody and deployed over 18,000 police personnel in sensitive areas of the City yesterday to thwart any possible outbreak of violence.

Security has been scaled up even in the Cauvery basin districts of Mandya, Mysore and Chamarajanagar in Karnataka to maintain law and order after the Tribunal delivers its final order on the vexed dispute over sharing of Cauvery river waters between riparian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Cauvery river irrigates thousands of acres of land in Mandya, Mysore and Chamarajanagar, besides meeting the drinking water requirements of residents of Bangalore. The river, which also flows through the lower riparian state of Tamil Nadu, irrigates thousands of acres of land in Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Tiruchirapally and other districts of that state.

Anxiety has gripped farmers in the Cauvery basin districts of Karnataka ahead of the final verdict, which will be delivered after holding 570 sittings during the last sixteen years. The Tribunal’s interim order on release of 205 tmc feet of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu in 1991 had sparked off a wave of violence in parts of Karnataka and Bangalore, which has a sizable Tamil population.

“We don’t want to take any chances this time around”, said Commissioner of Bangalore City Police N Achuta Rao. Apart from 18,000 police personnel, 600 home guards and 43 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) will also be deployed in the City. Additional forces have been sought from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Joint Commissioner of Bangalore City Police Bipin Gopalakrishna said the police has identified sensitive pockets in the City and posted policemen in plainclothes. CCTVs have been installed at sensitive spots and photographers have been hired to monitor the situation. “Any untoward incident will be captured in depth and footage will come in handy to nail the culprits”, Bipin Gopalakrishna said.

Security will be scaled up in areas of Bangalore, where Tamils are in a majority. The outskirts of Bangalore like Attibele and Anekal, besides Hosur, which are on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border have also been declared as sensitive.

Mandya district, which is the hot-bed of Cauvery agitations has been declared as “hyper-sensitive” and the police has made elaborate security arrangements. Adequate security arrangements have also been made in Mysore and neighbouring Chamarajanagar districts, said Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Shankar Bidri.