Mangaluru: The preparations for Mangaluru Dasara are in full swing. Dividers have been painted and over 18 lakh coloured bulbs are in place, ready to kindle smiles. Amidst these preparations, Janardhana Poojary called for a press conference in Gokarnanatha Temple premises on Friday, September 30 to speak about the Dasara celebrations in the city and also about the latest Supreme Court order.
Regarding the preparations for Dasara which starts tomorrow, Poojary said, “Nearby hotels and lodges have all claimed that they are fully booked, which speaks a lot about the turn around for the festival of Dasara. In order to keep up the tradition of having a perfect celebration in the city, we are testing all equipment installed for the ten-day festival so that nothing goes wrong.”
Apex Court order on Karnataka
The recent development from the Supreme Court on Cauvery water issue saw an order that has been given to Karnataka to release 36,000 cusecs of water for 6 days to Tamil Nadu at the rate of 6,000 cusecs per day from October 1 to 6.
Poojary describes these orders to Karnataka over the past weeks as an injustice to the state, “The Supreme Court should understand that it cannot order something that cannot be done. The rains have stopped in Karnataka and rains in Tamil Nadu haven’t yet. This will leave Karnataka without any water to drink, but Tamil Nadu will get a lot of it if Karnataka opens the dam gates. This has been the worst water crisis that Karnataka has ever faced”, he said.
“As a lawyer, I am pained to know that the Supreme Court is making such a decision. Orders are coming in even before the Cauvery committee was set up. Now, only God can help us”, Poojary added.
“In the absence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the Governor of Tamil Nadu must take a stand when Karnataka is going through so much of a bad time. Tamil Nadu media is not reporting about Jayalalithaa’s health, where it has become the right of everyone to know what has happened to her and how she is at the moment”, Poojary agitatedly said.
Finally, he said such a huge amount of water must not be released to Tamil Nadu especially when Karnataka is facing water crisis and if the statement that he made amounts to contempt of court, he is willing to be jailed, if it comes to that.
