Following an assurance from officials, farmers were allowed to extract silt from the Bhavanisagar Dam reservoir using more than 100 vehicles on Wednesday (June 3, 2026).The State government had recently permitted the free extraction of silt from the reservoir for agricultural purposes. Following this, farmers obtained permission from the Revenue and Water Resources Departments to remove silt from the reservoir bed.However, farmers alleged that officials had restricted the number of vehicles engaged in the work to 40 a day. Claiming that the restriction would delay desilting operations, they demanded that more vehicles be allowed. More than 50 trucks were stopped near the on Tuesday morning (June 2, 2026), following which farmers staged a sit-in protest. Officials of the police and Forest Departments held talks with the protesters, but the agitation continued as no consensus was reached.The farmers said permission had been sought for about 200 vehicles, but only a limited number were being allowed to operate each day. The protest was withdrawn in the evening after police and Forest Department officials held talks with the farmers once again. The officials informed them that permission had been granted for 150 of the 200 vehicles for which applications had been submitted, and clarified that there would be no restriction on vehicles passing through the forest checkpost for silt extraction. Following the assurance, the farmers called off their agitation. More than 100 vehicles were engaged in silt extraction from the reservoir on Wednesday. Published - June 03, 2026 05:46 pm IST