Chennai, June 15: Tamil Nadu is reeling under severe water crisis, with Chennai being the worst hit. People in Chennai and several other areas across the state have been facing acute water crisis after borewells went dry in the city. According to a tweet by ANI, locals have installed hand-pumps near Marina Beach to extract groundwater to manage their daily needs. In March this year, Chennai was one of the 24 districts that were declared drought-hit in the state by the AIADMK-led government in the state. Gujarat Water Crisis: Village People Forced to Drink Polluted Water. 

In the wake of the water crisis in the state, residents have resorted to buying water from tankers, at a time when reservoirs around the city have dried up. A row of vessels lines up almost all the streets of the city where a water-tanker is parked. According to a report by PTI, the private operators have hiked the rates and now demand Rs 3,000 to 5,000 per truck load of water.

Here's the tweet:

Main Reason for scarcity of water in Tamil Nadu

The major reason for the scarcity of water in the southern state is a deficit rainfall during the 2017 northeast monsoon and failed monsoon in 2018. These two conditions have led to the depletion of ground water and near drying up of major waterbodies, and has pushed residents at the mercy of water-tanker operators.

Reservoirs witness decrease in water levels

Several reservoirs across the state have witnessed a decrease in water levels.  The state is facing the worst ever drought in the last few years. There are four major reservoirs which supply water to Chennai having combined storage of about 11 tmc. Sundarrajan of NGO Poovulagin Nanbargal in May had said that  Chennai should have got about four tmc of water from Krishna district till April. But got only 0.8 tmc and the rest is not yet supplied. "Similarly, Tamil Nadu should have got 20 tmc of water from Kaveri river in the last four-five months. Kaveri is the drinking water source for at least five crore of Tamil Nadu. It's a very dire situation now," he added.

On Friday, the severe water scarcity being faced by Chennai and its suburbs prompted DMK chief M K Stalin to demand the resignation of Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani and to urge Chief Minister K Palaniswami to dismiss him from the cabinet if he did not quit.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 15, 2019 05:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).