Farmers staging a sit-in-protest seeking water release from the Bhavanisagar dam in Perundurai in Erode district in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement.

The wait-in protest by the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal ayacut farmers, demanding water to protect standing crops and meet the drinking water needs of cattle, was withdrawn on Saturday evening (August 15, 2026) after water was released from the Bhavanisagar dam for 15 days.Initially, 500 cusecs was released from the dam into the canal at 5 p.m. The discharge would be gradually increased to save crops on 1,03,500 acres in Erode, Karur, and Tiruppur districts. After Water Resources Department (WRD) officials confirmed the release, the farmers staging the protest at Vaikalmedu near Perundurai announced withdrawal of the protest.Over 50 farmers had begun the protest on private land demanding the release of two tmcft of water for irrigation. They pointed out that the dam had around 6.8 tmcft of water. The farmers had earlier staged protests on August 6 and 12, but withdrew them following assurances from the district administration. However, as the assurance that water would be arranged from the power houses in the Udhagamandalam region to augment the dam’s storage had not been fulfilled, they resumed the protest at 8 p.m. on Friday (August 14, 2026).During a protest at the Collectorate on August 12, Collector S. Kandasamy had assured the farmers that a favourable decision would be taken within two days. However, when representatives of farmers’ associations met him on Friday, they were told that another four days would be required. The Collector reportedly said water could be released only if arrangements were made to draw water from the power houses or rainfall resulted in sufficient inflow.On Saturday, Revenue Divisional Officer K. Muthusamy held talks with the farmers at the protest site. Heated exchanges took place over the delay in releasing water. Mr. Muthusamy told the farmers that an order for releasing water would be obtained on Monday (August 17, 2026). The farmers, however, said they would continue the protest until the order was issued. Published - August 15, 2026 07:03 pm IST