Large swathes of Tamil Nadu left parched, Edappadi K Palaniswami faces heat

Large swathes of Tamil Nadu, particularly capital Chennai, have been left parched because of a deficient monsoon, lower water flow into the river Krishna from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala’s refusal to raise the waters in the Mullaperiyar dam.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has come under severe criticism for inaction on part of the government. Chennai’s large reservoirs Poondi, Cholavaram, Sengundram and Chembarambakkam were nearly dry as against 3 TMC (85 billion litres) of water in the same period last year.

As against a usual inflow of 12 TMC of water from the Krishna, Tamil Nadu may get only 2 TMC this year. A favourable Supreme Court verdict won during the Jayalalithaa regime to raise the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam is facing headwinds from the Kerala government, Palaniswami said.

Chennai is being fed with 525 million litres of water every day from two desalination plants, agricultural wells off the city, the Veeranam reservoir and some other sources. The sheer demand has imposed a shortage upon the people and they should “be judicious in usage” to tide over the crisis, he said. Plans are afoot to bring 10 million litres a day through rail wagons from Jolarpettai in Vellore district.

“The city has been split into zones and top government officials have been placed in-charge of the zones. The officials will deploy more water tankers in areas within the zones where scarcity is acute,” he told reporters.

Palaniswami said desilting process has begun in Chennai reservoirs, but experts and social pressure groups have blamed the government for not focusing on water body rejuvenation on time.

Controversy erupted on Thursday evening after Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan put out a statement that his government’s offer of 2 million litres to Tamil Nadu was turned down. Palaniswami had thanked Vijayan, saying that 2 million litres were “not enough” at a time Tamil Nadu itself was providing 525 million litres a day. “It would be helpful if that amount is delivered every day and not a one-time delivery,” he said.

Opposition DMK has leveraged the water crisis with plans to hold district-wise protests. Palaniswami countered the move by pointing to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statements in Karnataka ahead of the elections about affirmative action in building a dam across the Cauvery in Mekedatu. Meanwhile, DMK parliamentarian and chief of VCK Thol. Thirumavalavan raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, opposing Karnataka’s moves to build the dam, amid attempts from MPs from the upper-riparian state to shout him down.