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PLAKKAD: Kerala water authority ( KWA ) officials here are awaiting the state government nod to dispatch drinking water in tanker trucks or by rail to Chennai, which is facing acute drinking water shortage due to severe drought.

Minister for water resources K Krishnankutty said that he would take up the matter with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. KWA is planning to send drinking water from its sources in Malampuzha and Aluva.

KWA chief engineer R Jayachandran said that he had taken up the matter with the water resources minister and the KWA MD.

He said KWA had been supplying drinking water to railways from Palakkad railway junction.

“The railways has got the network to fill the wagons and transport them. This facility could also be used to send drinking water to Chennai,” he said.

He said Malampuzha reservoir has enough water to meet the drinking water demands of the district. With Palakkad receiving heavy monsoon rain, there will not be any problem in sending drinking water to Chennai, he added.

KWA is also planning to send drinking water to Chennai from Aluva by rail.

