From The Hindu Archives, February 16, 1976 | Krishna water for Madras promised by 3 States: PM

Madras, Feb. 15: The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have “promised” the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, that they would each give five tmc feet of water from the Krishna for augmenting the drinking water supply in Madras.

Mrs. Gandhi announced this at a mammoth rally on the Marina marking the merger of the two Congress parties in Tamil Nadu. Her announcement came after she referred to the futile attempts of the DMK Government to bring Veeranam water to Madras.

She said she would not like to go into the details of the charges against the DMK Government, as the people of Tamil Nadu had more knowledge of them than she did. She would, however, mention only one of the charges. Prolonged laughter greeted her as she mentioned “Veeranam”.

The Prime Minister said that if the Veeranam project had been completed in time, it would have cost only Rs. 20 crores and would have helped the city avert the dreadful water famine of 1975.

“Now we find that after all these years, hardly anything has been done. Rs. 20 crores have been spent and we do not know how much more will now have to be spent.” She then broke off and said: “I have some good news for you. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have promised each to give five tmc of water, making a total of 15 tmc feet. Once this gets going, the Madras water problem will be solved.”

Mrs. Gandhi explained that the DMK Government had to be removed from power before its term ended, as the party had planned violent agitations and demonstrations from February 1.