Mandya, Aug 22 (IANS): Over 50 farmers, who were protesting against the release of water from Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu and attempted to block the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, were detained by Karnataka police on Tuesday.

The farmers on bullock carts and tractors gathered near Induvalu village and attempted to enter the highway from the service road.

The police prevented them and tried to convince them. However, the farmers got into an argument with the police personnel and started raising slogans against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

The police detained more than 50 farmers and took them away in buses.

The protesters claimed that the state government is quelling the movement of farmers. They also slammed the Congress government and termed it "anti-farmer".

The farm organisations have also demanded that the detained farmers should be immediately released and the release of water to Tamil Nadu should be stopped.

The protesters alleged that the Karnataka government has already released 80,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. They expressed their outrage against Tamil Nadu for approaching the Supreme Court even as their share of water is settled by the tribunal.

After this development, Karnataka has released 11,000 cusecs of water at a time when the crops in the state are dying without water, the protesters said.

Only 2,000 cusecs of water has been released in Karnataka, the farmers alleged.