In a bid to address the severe water shortage in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned funds to the tune of ₹65 crore for transporting 10 MLD (million litres per day) drinking water from Jolarpettai to Chennai for six weeks. Even as it thanked the Kerala government for offering to help with 2 million litres of water, the Tamil Nadu government is planning to request for 2 million litre water daily to Chennai for its needs.
During an interaction with reporters at the Secretariat here on Friday, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said: “I thank the Kerala government for making the offer. However, 2 million litres are not sufficient. Our requirement is 525 MLD. If 2 MLD are provided, it would be useful to the people.” When asked about the source of water in Jolarpettai, he said the government had plans already and work was on.
Reservoirs dry
Elaborating on the magnitude of the scarcity, the Chief Minister said there was “not a single drop of water” in the four reservoirs — Sholavaram, Chembarambakkam, Poondi and Red Hills — that have been the drinking water source for Chennai. The four reservoirs had dried up because of deficit rainfall, he pointed out. Efforts are on to source water from quarries around Chennai to quench the thirst of the State capital, he said.
Against the due share of 12 tmc of water from the Krishna river, only 2 tmc was supplied to Tamil Nadu from Andhra Pradesh, he said, and added that owing to shortage in Kandaleru, water could not be released from there.
Replying to a query on claims that Ministers were being supplied with two lorries of water daily, Mr. Palaniswami rejected them and said he was using only two buckets of water a day and drank two litres of water. There were many visitors to the residences of Chief Minister and other Ministers, he said.
While listing out other efforts being taken to look into the water issue in the State, Mr. Palaniswami said the Kerala government was obstructing the State’s efforts to increase the height of the Mullaperiyar dam and further requested his counterpart in Kerala to extend cooperation.
He said about 9,800 lorry trips were being made to supply drinking water to Chennai. While detailing the issues faced while supplying water in the city, the Chief Minister said he was flooded with requests from apartment owners for water when the entire city was reeling with water scarcity. “The government should take care of the poor people too,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
Appeal to the public
Reiterating his appeal to the general public, Mr. Palaniswami said the people should use water judiciously, considering the severe scarcity of water. He rejected reports of water shortage in schools and hostels. Sufficient quantities of water were being supplied to them, he said.
A meeting of lorry owners would be held soon to hear out the issues facing them. “There are limited lorries and practical difficulties while distributing water to people,” he said.