At the protest was KS Nandini Jayaram - President of the Women's Wing of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha.
Mandya is the sugarcane belt of Karnataka, at least in good years. But in 2015, the district saw the highest number of farmer suicides in the state.
Months ago, the government sugarcane factory was closed down. With the factory crushing around 2.5 lakh tons of cane each year, it was a blow to the farmers, many of whom were unable to sell their produce and were caught in a debt trap.
This time, there is no water to grow cane - a water intensive crop. Recently, the Mandya Ulisi or Save Mandya campaign was launched by farmer groups to draw attention of the administration to their challenges. On Monday, the protesters marched to the Deputy Commissioner's office.
At the protest was KS Nandini Jayaram - President of the Women's Wing of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha. "The government says it closed the factory because of technical problems. Irrigation projects have been delayed...Farmers are facing huge problems," she told NDTV
Deputy Commissioner Dr Ajay Nagabhushan has just taken over as the managing director of the sugar factory and is working to get it going again.
"The equipment needs to work," he told NDTV. "But we have started work and hope to begin crushing soon. Even last season when it was not functioning, we made arrangements to purchase the crop by private factories and even paid for the transport."
No date has been fixed for the re-opening of the factory. And now, with no water at all being released for irrigation -- priority being given to drinking water -- the normally abundant and fertile land of Mandya is facing some tough challenges.