The Supreme Court has ordered Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water for next 15 days.
Karnataka on Sunday stopped the flow of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu after complying with the Supreme Court's order to release a total of 1,68,000 cusecs of water by September 20.
The Supreme Court had initially ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for 10 days to Tamil Nadu, which was followed by widespread protests and bandhs - particularly in the Cauvery basin area including Mandya and Bengaluru. But it later modified its order on September 5 asking 12,000 cusecs of water to be released for next 15 days, which meant Karnataka would end up releasing more water.
Following the order, parts of Bengaluru were witness to arson and violence that brought the city to a standstill. Vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration were attacked, many buses were set on fire and local transport was stopped. Businesses and offices including that of IT majors like Wipro were shut. Schools also remained closed for two days.
Karnataka has maintained that it does not have sufficient water in the Cauvery reservoirs to meet its drinking and irrigation needs, while Tamil Nadu says it fears crop failure if sufficient water is not released. Karnataka had also said that Tamil Nadu has water in the Mettur Dam and that it is still to receive its main rainfall in the north-east monsoon.
Supreme Court will also meet on Tuesday to discuss the Cauvery water dispute which has pitted Karnataka and Tamil Nadu against each other for a decade.