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Cauvery fact-finding team visits Mysore

The Cauvery monitoring team headed by Union Water Resources Secretary A K Goswami visited the Krishnaraja Sagara dam in Mysore on Tuesday to assess the water level and storage facilities.

The team, on the direction of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is surveying the dams in the Cauvery river basin to assess the ground realities.

Earlier, the committee had held a meeting in Bangalore in the office of Karnataka Chief Secretary A Ravindra. Committee members Kerala and Pondicherry were present, but Tamil Nadu boycotted the meeting. After the meeting the team left for Mysore, in helicopters, to visit the KRS dam.

Leaders of the local farmers' union met the team in Mysore and submitted their memorandum. They asked the Goswami to tour the Cauvery catchment areas to assess the drought situation and the requirement of the standing crops in Karnataka. They also requested the committee not to release the waters to Tamil Nadu.

The farmers stated in the memorandum that 44 taluks (blocks) in the Cauvery river basin have been hit by a drought of a severity not seen since Independence.

Goswamy told the leaders that the committee was on a fact-finding mission and would submit its report to the prime minister. Later, the team left for Bangalore. It will visit villages in Mandya district to assess the drought situation there. It will also visit the Harangi, Kabini, and Hemavathy dams in Karnataka on Thursday. But it has dropped the plan of visiting the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu after that state's co-operation seemed doubtful.

Meanwhile, Karnataka's farmers have continued their vigil at the dams. Protest marches and bandhs (general strikes) were organised in the districts in the Cauvery basin. Traffic between Mysore and Bangalore has still not returned to normal, as farmers in Mandya district continue with their roadblocks.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda visited the residence of Guruswamy, the farmer who had jumped into the Kabini reservoir to protest against the Centre's decision to release the Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu. He also visited the Kabini dam and expressed his support to the agitating farmers.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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