The Madras High Court has sought the Tamil Nadu government's stand on a plea for a direction to it to send a delegation to Andhra Pradesh to secure adequate water to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai.
A bench of justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee sought the government stand and posted the matter for further hearing on August 9 after the government counsel sought time to file its reply.
The plea has been made by advocate A P Suryaprakasam, who told the bench that Tamil Nadu is facing its worst drought in 130 years with all major water reservoirs of Chennai having dried up.
People are forced to purchase water at escalated price, he submitted in his petition.
He sought a direction to Tamil Nadu government to send a high-level official delegation to negotiate with the Andhra Pradesh government to secure at least five tmc of Krishna water from Srisailam reservoir to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai.
The advocate submitted that Srisailam dam was brimming up to 90 per cent of its capacity and if Tamil Nadu properly negotiates with Andhra Pradesh, it would be able to ghet the much-needed water.
The canal bringing Krishna water to Tamil Nadu was not properly maintained and many persons were illegally extracting water from it which was adding to the problem, he claimed.
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