Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu today has reportedly assured the Tamil Naidu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to release 2.5 tmc Krishna water for Chennai to meet the drinking water scarcity, after assessing the water availability position here.

Panneerselvam, who flew down from Chennai this afternoon, was accorded warm reception by Naidu at the AP Secretariat, Velagapudi and both of them discussed the Telugu Ganga water issue.

Panneerselvam urged to release 15 tmc Krishna water, as the state is facing acute shortage in reservoirs. He said that Chennai is critically dependent on release of Krishna water to manage the difficult situation. He also said that 1.5 TMC ft of water was currently available in Chennai city, though it had tanks with a total storage capacity of 11.5 TMC ft.

However, Chandrababu Naidu stating that his state also facing drought conditions, promised him to release 2.5 tmc, for which officials of the both the states would meet soon in Tirupati to formalise modalities. He said that as per the inter-state agreement AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra need to release each 5 tmc water for Chennai and AP had already released 1 tmc water.

As dams and reservoirs in Maharashtra and Karnataka are full of water, Naidu said that they should release it downstream since AP’s reservoirs are not full. Moreover, he suggested that Tamil Nadu should bring pressure on those two governments through the Centre for release of water.

Chandrababu also told Panneerselvam that the issue of water release to Chennai through Telugu Ganga project would be taken up with the Krishna River Management Board. He felt that the KRMB should decide the proportionate share of water to be released by Telangana and AP post bifurcation.

When Naidu reminded him the pending Rs 443 crore dues to be paid by Tamil Nadu, his counterpart assured to arrange partial payment soon.