‘Send Krishna’ to save Chennai: Paneerselvam to Naidu

Chief Minister O Paneerselvam in a letter on Saturday to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandra Babu Naidu, has requested for release of Krishna water to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai city. 

Paneerselvam said that as per the Telugu Ganga project signed in 1983 Andhra Pradesh should release 12 TMC of Krishna water every year to TN in two spells first between July and October (8 TMC) and the next between Jan to April (4 TMC). This year, only 0.99 TMC reached TN border between October and Dec 2016. 

Stating that the city has witnessed a 57% rainfall deficiency, he said that the state was now “dependent on Krishna water from the Kandaleru reservoir to tide over the crisis, which may prevail till July 2017. “As on January 5, the storage in Kandaleru reservoir was 13.53 TMC ft. Therefore, Andhra Pradesh appears to be in a position to release water from Kandaleru Reservoir for Chennai city,” the CM said in his letter. Panneerselvam said he was writing to Naidu seeking his “urgent personal intervention” on the matter.