Chennai: Drought relief work has been expedited across Tamil Nadu and special projects worth Rs 100 crore have been sanctioned, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami told reporters on Thursday. The Chief Minister who interacted with the media after removing the red beacon from his car said that the state was monitoring the acute drought and steps taken to ensure that water is made available to the public.
Already drinking water augment works are underway at a cost of '300 crore by the state departments, he said. It may be noted that the Opposition parties including the archrival DMK has been targeting the ruling AIADMK alleging that the council of ministers are busy attending the party factional feud ignoring the water crisis and drought. According to official sources, public works department, Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, Chennai metro water and local bodies in the state are taking up water distribution works, clearing of silt from canals, desilting of lakes and restoration of rain water harvesting structures at a cost of Rs 400 crore.
For the first time the state disaster management authority had also sounded a red alert for 18 districts of Tamil Nadu insisting the district collectors to take necessary action whenever there is a heat wave. Forest department had also taken up summer management works in all the tiger reserves and reserve forests filling artificial troughs to prevent wild animals straying in to residential areas.
Improve drinking water supply in Madurai, Minister tells officials:
The State Cooperation Minister, Sellur K. Raju, on Thursday, urged the Madurai corporation to improve the drinking water supply to people during the summer season. He also urged the district administration to provide sufficient drinking water to people in Usilampatti Municipality. Addressing the government officials during the drought and drinking water supply review meeting at the collectorate, the Minister said that the city corporation was supplying only 67 Million litre (Ml) as against 127 Ml per day to the residents. Though proposals have been made for digging 500 bore wells to solve the water crisis in the city, so far the officials have dug only 200 bore Wells, he pointed out.
The Minister also said that the officials should take steps to supply the drinking water once in three days instead of once in four days which was followed now. Similarly, he asked the district administration to repair the hand pumps in Usilampatti. The Minister also urged the officials to provide supply sufficient fodder to 71,996 livestock in the district. The district Monitoring officer Dharmendra Prasad Yadav said that the government has a proposal to establish separate pipeline from the Periyar dam to supply drinking water to Madurai. The district officials should speed up a detailed proposal to the state government to begin the work at the earliest.
The revenue Minister RP Udayakumar, district collector Veera Raghava Rao, corporation commissioner Sandeep Nanduri, Additional Collector B Rohini Ramdas and other senior officials participated in the meeting.
