Telangana CM agrees to meet Tamil Nadu's drinking water needs

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Thursday agreed, in principle, to supply drinking water to Tamil Nadu in consultation with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Rao told a delegation from Tamil Nadu that the water will be supplied from a perennial and assured source. He suggested the delegation to send a formal request proposal from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to him and also to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart.

According to the Chief Minister's office, Rao suggested that soon after receiving the proposal, there should be a meeting between three states at the level of officers and experts to prepare a report based on the discussions to proceed further.

"Let the officers come to a consensus for taking a final decision. As and when this materialises, let India learn through this as to how states can cooperate with each other," said KCR, as Rao is popularly known.

The delegation from Tamil Nadu consisted included Ministers S.P. Velumani and D. Jayakumar and officials.

KCR said that for the drinking water needs of any state. the neighbouring states should be benevolent. He said that the whole country should feel ashamed for the suffering of Tamil Nadu on the drinking water front.

He 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. Out of this, only 10,000 TMC is enough to properly put to use for drinking water purpose in the country.

KCR spoke to Jagan Mohan Reddy over phone about the Tamil Nadu delegation's request. He told his Andhra Pradesh counterpart that since the suffering of Tamil Nadu is a known fact, they can extend cooperation to the state. IANS