Chennai water crisis deepens, 100 hostels shut, locals pay Rs 4,000 per tanker

Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, is facing the worst-ever water crisis. A BBC report said that four water reservoirs of Chennai are completely dry. The acute shortage has hit the IT companies, hotels and other institutions. An Indian Express report said that locals are paying anything between Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 for a single water tanker. In fact, some other reports had said that major IT companies have instructed their staff to work from home. The BBC report quoted Vinoth Kaligai, the general secretary of an IT workers' association, saying that some firms had told employees to stay at home. "But homes are also running out of water, so what are we supposed to do?" he added.

"Water supply has become erratic now, earlier it was regular. We're suffering. This locality doesn't have piped water supply," a Chennai local was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Actor Siddharth took to Twitter and slammed authorities over mismanagement. “I've been seeing #watertankers in #Chennai since I was child in the 80's. This is not a recent problem. It is a problem made worse by callous governance and #corruption. The #watermafia exists. It will continue to. #CitizenActivism is the only way forward. The system is rotten,” he said on micro-blogging site.

“Can someone who is an expert on the subject please tell me where all the #rainwater collected by the authorities in #Chennai is taken? Can't it be used to improve ground water levels in different areas? There is definitely mismanagement happening. How do we stop it? #TamilNadu,” he added. 

An NDTV report said that Chennai requires 800 million litres of water every day. But the Chennai Metro Water supplies only 525 million litres. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami tried to downplay the crisis.