Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday promised his Tamil Nadu counterpart O. Panneerselvam that he will extend “all possible help” in addressing Chennai’s drinking water crisis.
This was in response to a request made by Mr. Panneerselvam for the release of at least five tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of Krishna water at a meeting held in Velagapudi, Vijayawada. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister led a delegation which included Public Works Minister Edapadi K. Palaniswami, Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan and Advisor Sheela Balakrishnan.
Mr. Naidu said the Krishna River Water Management Board (KRWMB) would have to decide the quantum of water to be released by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from the Telugu Ganga Project (TGP).
The agreement to provide water to Chennai from the TGP was entered into with the Tamil Nadu government [in April 1983] much before bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh [in 2014].
“After the bifurcation, both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would have to honour the agreement and share the amount of water to be released to Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Naidu said.
Mr. Panneerselvam drew Mr. Naidu’s attention to the fact that Chennai had experienced 57 per cent deficient northeast monsoon in 2016. Four reservoirs, catering to Chennai, now had a storage of 1.505 tmc ft against the capacity of 11.057 tmc ft. The current storage “is very low and inadequate” to meet the needs of the city. He impressed upon the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister that “this support will be vital to meet the drinking water needs” of Chennai this summer, a release issued by the Tamil Nadu government said. Pointing out that the release of water for Chennai began on Monday last, Mr. Naidu said his government would be able to release more after assessing the availability in the Somasila and Kandaleru reservoirs.
Before the Krishna Board decided the issue, Mr. Naidu suggested to Mr. Panneerselvam to mount pressure on the Union government to see to it that Karnataka and Maharashtra too released their share as per the 1983 agreement. Both Karnataka and Maharashtra would have to release five tmcft each, he added.
