Cauvery dispute: Pro-Kannada activists break into Wipro’s Mysore campus

BANGALORE: Pro Kannada activists broke into the Mysore campus of Wipro on Saturday during a state-wide strike to protest the release of water from Cauvery river to neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Police rushed to the venue and dispersed the protesting activists. Wipro asked most employees to go home and reduced the number of staff working at the office to about 40, from 300 in the morning.

“Business continuity plans are in force and essential staff required to maintain service levels continue to work,” a spokesman said, adding that critical work was not disrupted.

While Wipro, which employs over a 135,000 employees in the country is shut in Bangalore for the weekend, the Mysore campus is part of a 24/7 facility where employees work in shifts for clients in various parts of the world.

Work in India's IT hub Bangalore was hit during last month's Bharat Bandh called by the opposition parties against FDI in retail and hike in diesel prices.

Most of the 3,500 staff employed by Intel and 10,000 staff at Cisco Systems were asked to work from home, company spokesmen said.

Meanwhile, highlighting the "grim" situation in Cauvery basin, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop further release of water to Tamil Nadu and to seek a report from the team that has been deputed to assess the water situation.

"I would kindly urge upon you to explore possibilities of stopping further release of water from dams in Karnataka and also call for an interim report of the team of experts", Krishna, now on an official visit to the U.S., said in a letter to Singh.