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Chennai, Jan. 17 (PTI): The Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust proposes to undertake a drinking water project at Latur in Maharashtra,
All-India President of Sathyasai Organisation V Srinivasan said today.
Studies for the project had been completed and the trust
had expertise and experience to undertake such projects, he told reporters while announcing a Chennai Citizen Conclave function
on January 21 to thank Sri Sathyasai Baba for his role in bringing Krishna waters to the city to meet the drinking water requirements.
The Trust had enabled drinking water supply to 750 villages in Rayalseema area of Andhra Pradesh by drawing water from Thungabadra
river, he said.
The Rayalseema project involved laying of 2000-kms of pipeline, building small reservoirs, constructing hundreds of
overhead tanks and providing standby power generation.
The Trust had brought water supply to many villages in Mehboob Nagar
and Medak districts of Andhra Pradesh, besides executing a Godavari rural supply scheme covering 550 villages, mostly tribals living
in high ranges, he said.
Referring to the Chennai drinking water project, Srinivasan, said the mammoth works, undertaken at a cost of
about Rs 200 crore so far, was initiated by the Baba on his own. "There was no request from either Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.
Realising that the city was suffering from acute shortage of drinking water, he initiated the project", he said.
Srinivasan said the trust
undertook a technical study to improve the 65-km long canal system from Kandaleru reservoir to Poondi as it could not carry the gushing
waters.
The restrengthening work involved high grade cement linking, construction of escape structures and improvement of approach canal.
To prevent water seepage, stone 'gabions' and geo-textile were put to create a rock surface.
The work was completed in 18 months, enabling flow of Krishna waters to the city.
On the thanksgiving function, to be attended by Sai Baba, he said it would be presided over
by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. Besides, Y S Rajasekara Reddy, D Kumaraswamy and Vilasrao Deshmukh, Chief Ministers
of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra respectively would also be participating.
These states had agreed to supply 15 TMC of water
to the city. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, besides Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna and Tamil Nadu
Governor Surjit Singh Barnala would also participate in the function.
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