More than 10,000 people in Mysore gathered to protest the Thalassery-Mysore railway line. People came from all over Kodagu and Mysore to conduct a march on 18th February. Black was the dress code.
The protesters included people of all age groups. The crowd gathered at the Karnataka exhibition grounds for the protest. They all congregated for the ‘Kodagu against railway’ rally. The railway and the highway projects being protested if carried out will eventually lead to the drying up of Cauvery which is the primary source of water for most parts of Karnataka and specifically Kodagu and South Karnataka.
Over 35 buses arrived at Mysore on Sunday from nearby areas like Kushalnagar, Virajpet and Madikeri, to name a few. The protest was organised by the ‘Kodagu Ulisi Horata Samithi’ which doesn’t belong to any certain political party. The rally began at the Exhibition grounds and proceeded to the Hardinge circle, Kote Anjaneyswami temple, and returned back to the exhibition grounds. They were accompanied by leaders and activists who came out to support the cause. They raised placards and banners to assert their point.
A group from Kannur in Kerala also showed support to the cause. The Coorg Wildlife Society’s president also supported the event, Colonel C.P. Muthanna.
He had this to say, “Kodagu is the principal catchment of river Cauvery and contributes over 70% of the total inflow into the KRS dam. The Cauvery river is the lifleline of South India and sustains over 8 crore people and 600 major idnustries across the region. Railway line will be nothing but death knell for Cauvery and Kodagu.”
60,000 trees were already cut to build a power-line from Mysore to Kozhikode. Kodagu contributes to the forest cover in the Western Ghats and is a habitat for much of the wildlife and plant species in the state as well. Kodagu is also the birthplace of goddess Cauvery, and from where the river begins its journey to the Arabian sea. This protest comes as a cautionary statement to the government. In the pursuit of development and progress, we must not lose our natural resources. The railway line was proposed in the 2012-13 budget presented by Siddaramaiah, and the district blames Congress for the damage so far. This won’t bode well for the upcoming elections.