Heat wave triggers political activism

Chennai: The unprecedented heat wave sweeping across the State – Chennai’s weather on Wednesday will be 37 degrees Celsius but it will feel like 51 degrees Celsius – has triggered some activity in the various political camps with some parties setting up water kiosks on the roadside and in select locations to quench people’s thirst and others placing demands to the governments on various fronts.

Dispelling the panic created by some media reports that Chennai was facing a water shortage soon, Metrowater came out with a clarification on Tuesday that the five lakes supplying water to the capital city had a storage of 57 per cent, assuring the people that it would be adequate to meet the demands for the next 7 months.

Apart from the reservoirs – Chembarambakkam, Poondi, Sholavaram, Puzhal and Kannankotai – that have a storage of over 5 lakh million square feet of water, the desalination plants at Nemili and Minjur were functioning to capacity and supplying water to various parts of the city, Metrowater officials said.

Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Edappadi K Palaniswamy, raised the issue of the mango crops getting affected due to severe water shortage in the State’s mango bowl comprising the districts of Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. In a statement, he blamed the State government for not addressing the problem faced by the mango farmers.

He also accused the State government of not desilting the lakes, 90 of them managed by the PWD and another 1160 by the panchayats in Krishnagiri district alone, and failing to store the rain water properly, which had led to 90 per cent of the lakes and 70 per cent of the 57,500 wells in the district going dry.

PMK founder S Ramadoss urged the Union Government not to hold the by-election to the Vikravandi State Assembly constituency on June 1 in view of the heat wave. In a statement he said that there was a talk that the Election Commission of India was planning to hold the by-election on June 1 along with the last phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls by referring to the heat wave in the State.

There was enough time for holding the by-election as the seat fell vacant only on April 8. Since October 7 was the 6 month deadline for the by-election, it could be held along with any of the State elections coming up in September (Jammu and Kashmir) or October (Haryana), Ramadoss said, adding that the State was in the grip of a broiling heat wave in the past 10 days.

He also said that the dog days (locally known as Kathiri veyil) would begin on May 4, when the temperatures are expected to go up to 116 degrees Celsius, and the election process would have to begin on May 7 (if the polling was to be held on June 1).

President of the PMK, Anbumani Ramadoss, criticized the State government as TASMAC, the distributor of of beer, wine and liquor in the State, had reportedly urged the breweries to increase the production of beer in view of the growing demand due to the heat wave that had not even spared salubrious hill stations like Kodaikanal and Ooty.

Instead of addressing the water shortage in the State with the storage in the lakes coming down, the government was trying to increase the sale of beer with a commercial motive during the summer season, which should be given up, Anbumani Ramadoss said in a statement.

BJP State President K Annamalai urged his party functionaries to address the people’s needs by setting up water kiosks and also supplying buttermilk to the people. Though the service to quench the thirst of the common people was being done in the party headquarters and district offices, more kiosks in common places should be opened, he told the office bearers through a statement.

Other political parties have already opened such kiosks in various places with former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam inaugurating one at Padi, G K Vasan opening one at Royapettah in the last few days. The AIADMK too has opened a few water kiosks across Chennai. The kiosks could not be opened when the heat wave set in as it was election time.

But soon after the polling was over, Chief Minister M K Stalin held a review meeting and gave instructions to the officials to tide over the situation. State Minister for Youth Affairs Udhaynidhi Stalin, too, called for party functionaries to open water kiosks.

The heat that is unbearable in Chennai during the day time, say between 7 am and 6 pm, subsides by late evening and people throng the various beeches to breath a whiff of cool air and get some relief.