Neyveli, Tamil Nadu:
Party workers of the MDMK led by General Secretary Vaiko have been arrested after they attempted to lay siege to the Neyveli Lignite Corporation. The activists are demanding stopping of power supply to Karnataka. The plant produces around 2500 MW power out of which around 18 per cent is supplied to Karnataka.
This is a fresh spate of protests that have erupted in Neyveli district of Tamil Nadu after Karnataka's refusal to release Cauvery waters to the state.
There's heavy police presence in the area who have been instructed to arrest anyone who moves beyond a certain point.
The protesters say, more than two lakh acres of paddy crop will die in Tamil Nadu's delta region if it does not receive supply from the Cauvery river.
The Cauvery River Authority and the Supreme Court had earlier directed Karnataka to release 9000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till October 15, but it stopped release on the October 8 citing less storage and its requirement to supply drinking water to Bangalore.
Yesterday the Cauvery Monitoring Commission directed Karnataka to release 8.8 tmc of water before 31st of his month which Karnataka has rejected.
Tamil Nadu has however filed a contempt petition against its neighbouring state in the top court over this.
The Cauvery River originates in Karnataka and meanders its way over almost 800 km in Tamil Nadu; decades-old agreements mandate that its water has to be shared with Tamil Nadu. Karnataka has four dams on the river; Tamil Nadu has two.
The topography of the region means that Karnataka can control how much water is released downstream to Tamil Nadu.