E-Paper
Jagan Reddy agrees to release water to Chennai: TN minister
Chennai is reeling under acute water scarcity and the Krishna water would be released through the Telugu Ganga channel.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has agreed to release 8 tmcft, or thousand million cubic feet, of Krishna water to Chennai, Tamil Nadu local administration minister SP Velumani said on Friday after meeting Reddy in Vijayawada earlier in the day.
Chennai is reeling under acute water scarcity and the Krishna water would be released through the Telugu Ganga channel, he told the media.
Accompanied by his cabinet colleague, D Jayakumar, he submitted a representation from Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) to Reddy, requesting release of Krishna water from Srisailam as per the Telugu Ganga pact.
Andhra Pradesh government officials have confirmed that Reddy has issued the necessary orders for water release to Tamil Nadu.
As per the Bachawat Tribunal award, Tamil Nadu is entitled to get 15 tmcft of assured water from the Krishna river with Maharashtra and Karnataka contributing 5 tmcft each, and the remaining 5 tmcft has to be released from the erstwhile combined Andhra Pradesh (now bifurcated into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh).
Chennai needs 850 million litres of water per day but it is getting only 525 MLD as of now. To address the shortage, the TN government is bringing 5 MLD water on two trains from Jolarpet, near Vellore.
