The Honourable Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in response to a request from a delegation of ministers and officers from Tamil Nadu Government, agreed to supply in principle drinking water for Tamil Nadu in consultation with Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from a perennial and assured source. CM KCR suggested the members of delegation to send a formal request proposal from CM Tamil Nadu to him and also to CM of AP. CM further suggested that soon after receiving the proposal there should be a meeting between three states at officers’ and experts’ level to prepare a report based on the discussions to proceed further. Let the officers come to a consensus for taking a final decision said CM. As and when this materialises, said CM that, “let India learn through this as to how states can cooperate each other”.
The delegation from Tamil Nadu consisted of Ministers SP Velumani and D Jayakumar and Secretary PWD Dr K Manivasan and Advisor Dr Mrs M Sheelapriya. In the meeting that held with the delegation Ministers KT Rama Rao, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Chief Advisor Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Principal Secretary Irrigation Rajat Kumar, CMO officers S Narsing Rao, Smitha Sabharval, OSD to CM Sridhar Rao Deshpande, Engineer in Chief Muralidhar Rao and CE Interstate water Narasimha Rao were present.
The Chief Minister while interacting with the delegation said that for the drinking water needs of any state the neighbouring states should be benevolent. He said that he raised the issue of drinking water problem of Tamil Nadu and also other issues of whole country in NITI Ayog meetings several times. TRS MPS raised the issue of Tamil Nadu drinking water couple of times in Lok Sabha said CM. He said that in fact the whole country should feel ashamed for the suffering of Tamil Nadu in drinking water front. CM KCR further said out of the 70,000 TMC of water available in India, after meeting the irrigation needs of the entire country still there would be a surplus of 30,000 TMC of water. Out of this just 10,000 TMC of water is enough to properly put to use for drinking water purposes in the country.
CM KCR suggested the delegation that they should have a special strategy to fight for their drinking water which shall take priority over everything else. He said that the country should come to understand the dire need of Tamil Nadu for drinking water so that it could be solved. Persuasion and sincere efforts will yield good results said CM. As a neighbour state and as a true Indian he is prepared to help Tamil Nadu said CM.
CM KCR over phone mentioned to AP CM Sri Jaganmohan Reddy about the Tamil Nadu delegation request, what he suggested to them and how in principle it could be agreed to provide drinking water. He told AP CM that since the suffering of Tamil Nadu is a known fact, they can extend cooperation to the state.
