VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government is likely to consider the request of Tamil Nadu government to bail out Chennai from severe drinking water crisis. According to highly-placed sources, the TN government sent an SOS for release of at least 3 tmc of water as Chennai is facing acute drinking water shortage.Though the water reserves in AP dams are nothing to gloat about, the government is seriously contemplating releasing water in the wake of Chennai's desperate need for water. "We will look into the issue positively. We will take a final call on the issue after discussing it with chief minister Chandrababu Naidu ," water resources minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao told TOI. He said that AP had released water two months ago to Chennai following a similar request from the TN government."Although it is extremely difficult to spare even 1 tmc of water from the available reserves, drinking water needs are high priority and AP government is likely to release 1-2 tmc of water to Chennai to quench its thirst," said a senior official of water resources department.In fact, several districts in AP are reeling under acute water shortage and farmers are struggling to save crops in Rayalaseema region in the current rabi season. "It's a tightrope walk for us to manage the water demands of farmers of Rayalaseema and Prakasam districts. Yet, we are ready to consider TN's request on humanitarian grounds," the official explained.Recently, the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) had allocated 35.1 tmc while granting 17 tmc to Telangana from the available reserves in Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects. Both the states have to manage with the allowed quota till the end of January.