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Violence continues near Kabini dam

Violence continued unabated after Sunday's firing near the Kabini dam in Karnataka as protesting farmers torched lorries, state transport buses, and other private vehicles.

The situation was bought under control, but the entire district of Mandya remained tense and came to a standstill, even as the administration rushed in additional forces to curb the violence.

The police took the agitating farmers into custody, even as they kept pouring in from the districts of Chamarajanagar, Mandya, and Mysore.

The crowd near the dam was later dispersed after the police resorted to a lathi-charge, which left a few farmers with minor injuries.

Meanwhile, leaders of farmers' associations across eight districts of the Cauvery basin are holding meetings under the banner of the 'Cauvery Protection Forum' and are expected to come up with a resolution later in the day.

The district administration has called in five platoons of the Rapid Action Force and additional forces from neighbouring districts.

Private transport services have stopped their operations and railway services between Mysore and Bangalore have also been suspended.

The district administration has announced three days' holiday for schools and colleges from Monday.

Chief Minister S M Krishna is expected to meet Congress politicians as well as lawyers representing the state in the Supreme Court to discuss ways to resolve the matter.

Meanwhile, even as the farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu battle it out over the river waters dispute, it has been raining heavily in the catchment area of the Kabini dam.

According to Kabini officials, nearly 8,000 cusecs of water is flowing into the dam every day while around 10,000 cusecs is being released into the river to reach the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu.

The authorities are hoping for better rain in the coming days. If the present problem is to be solved, it should rain heavily in Kodagu district, the main catchment area of the River Cauvery, the officials said.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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