Dissatisfied with the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal verdict, Karnataka said on Monday it would file a revision petition before the tribunal seeking a review while the situation in the Cauvery belt by and large remained peaceful.
Shortly after the much awaited verdict giving 270 tmc of Cauvery water to the state was out, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa told the state Assembly that the issue would be discussed in the cabinet and at an all party meet on Tuesday.
"We will file a review petition," he said.
But the response was guarded from Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy who said the next step would be decided after the all party meeting and consultations with irrigation experts.
"It would not be appropriate to comment without seeing the full contents of the award," he said.
Describing the verdict as '100 percent injustice' to Karnataka, state Water Resources Minister K S Eshwarappa said it would affect the existing projects and the new ones.
With a palpable sense of uneasiness in the city ahead of the award pronouncement, police remained alert.
At least 13 people were killed in the bitter Cauvery riots of 1991 when the interim award was announced.
Soon after the award came out, schools in several areas announced holiday and software firms in the country's tech hub of Bangalore, including Infosys and Wipro, were closed for the day as a 'precautionary measure'.
Many IT firms asked their staff to leave for home at 3 pm.
Cinemas and commercial establishments in some localities were also closed later in the afternoon.
Around 16,000 policemen, aided by City Armed Reserve and Karnataka State Reserve Police were deployed in Bangalore alone.
Bangalore transport authorities cancelled several schedules of bus services apart from withdrawing all Volvo buses from the city roads.
Police said barring protests by groups of Kannada activists in Mysore and Chamarajnagar and agitation by farmers in Mandya, the situation remained peaceful till Monday evening.
Mysore and Mandya districts, the hotbed of Cauvery politics, are under heavy police cover.
The award also came in for flak from opposition leaders who said it was 'shocking' and had rendered 'grave injustice' to the state. They demanded that the government should file a review petition before the adjudicating body.
They also asked the JDS-BJP government to bring pressure on the Centre not to notify the award.
Talking to PTI, Eswarappa said the tribunal has enhanced the water release to Tamil Nadu by at least 12 tmc ft over the interim award of 205 tmc ft. This would cast huge burden on the state and its farmers would be adversely affected.
Opposition Congress leader in the state Assembly, N Dharam Singh, former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah and several legislators representing the Cauvery delta decried the tribunal's final award and urged the government to initiate legal steps to protect the interest of farmers.
Siddaramaiah said the verdict would affect even supply of drinking water to many cities and towns including Bangalore City depending on Cauvery river to meet its water needs. Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha) staged a black flag demonstration in the assembly, protesting the award.
