TN water crisis: Opposition party stages protest

Tamil Nadu's Opposition DMK on Saturday began protests across the state against the AIADMK government's failure to take prompt action to meet the state's water crisis. The ruling party officials, meanwhile, were holding yagnas in temples seeking God's blessings for the rains.

With Chennai and several other places in Tamil Nadu facing an acute water shortage, the DMK is holding protests to press the state government to take necessary action to mitigate the people's suffering.

While Cholavaram (full capacity 1,081 mcft) and Redhills (full capacity 3,300 mcft) reservoirs that supply water to Chennai have run dry, there is only 1 mcft of water left in Chembarambakkam lake (against a full capacity of 3,645 mcft) and 21 mcft water left in Poondi reservoir (against a full capacity of 3,231 mcft), according to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

The ground water levels too have gone down owing to lack of rains.