Andhra to release water to Chennai from Aug 15

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to release water to Chennai for meeting the latter's drinking water requirements through the Telugu Ganga canal from August 15, 2006.

Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy announced this after a meeting with M K Stalin and K Ponmudi, ministers in the Karunanidhi government, who came to discuss the issue with Andhra here on Saturday.

Under an old agreement, Andhra Pradesh, together with Maharashtra and Karnataka, has the obligation to provide 15 tmc of Krishna water to Tamil Nadu to meet the drinking water requirements of its capital city.

The Telugu Ganga canal, which draws water from the Srisailam reservoir, was primarily designed to carry the committed water to Chennai.

Though the Andhra Pradesh chief minister positively responded to the request of the Tamil Nadu ministers, he, however, did not specify the exact quantity of water to be released for this purpose.

Besides the problem of Karnataka and Maharashtra not adhering to the commitment of their share in water meant for Chennai, the inadequate development of the canal system had also made it difficult to provide the agreed quantity of water to Tamil Nadu in any given year, the chief minister said in response to a question.

He said the issue of non-allocation of 5 tmc of water each by both Karnataka and Maharashtra had also been referred to the Krishna Water Tribunal by his government.

In 2005-06, Chennai received 3.6 tmc of water from Andhra Pradesh through the Telugu Ganga project while a maximum of 6.6 tmc of water was provided through the project in 2000-01, according to official information.

The Tamil Nadu ministers also raised the issue of construction of a barrage by Andhra Pradesh on Paleru rivulet in Kuppam bordering Tamil Nadu, during their meeting with the chief minister.

Reddy said the construction would be taken up only after the Tamil Nadu government was satisfied with the final design and alignment of the project and ensured that it would not hinder the interests of Tamil Nadu farmers.