The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said that India has mounted an enormous effort to provide assistance to Maldives, after the island nation faced shortage of drinking water in its capital and sought help from New Delhi in this regard.
"Last evening, there was a fire at the sole desalination plant in Maldives following which there is a major crisis in terms of availability of water in [its capital] Male. This will take about a week to resolve, therefore, the Maldivian government contacted the Indian government," MEA official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the media here.
"We have mounted an enormous effort in our assistance to provide a member of the SAARC and a close partner of India in its hour of need," he added.
India will airlift and send water to Male, with five flights each on Friday and Saturday, and will also make use of INS Sukanya and INS Deepak to help its fellow SAARC nation during this crisis.
"We intend to have five flights today and another five flights tomorrow so we will have a total of 10 flights carrying drinking water," Akbaruddin said.
"We have also made arrangements for two ships to move to Maldives. INS Sukanya, which was in Colombo, has set sail for Maldives. It has two reverse osmosis plants, which can function 20 tonnes of water in a day. We have also sent INS Deepak which will leave on Saturday," he added.
According to reports, water supply to more than 100,000 residents in the Maldives capital was cut off, after the city's water treatment plant caught fire.
The country has reportedly appealed to India, Sri Lanka, China and the United States for help.
