Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Tuesday declared the state drought-hit and announced a number of concessions for farmers, in addition to waiving the land tax they need to pay. He also announced several measures to mitigate the acute shortage of water, which will cost urban civic bodies Rs 160 crore and rural civic bodies Rs 350 crore.

On January 7, Panneerselvam had urged Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to release water from the Krishna river to help Chennai meet the drinking needs of its citizens. In a letter, he had said that Tamil Nadu’s reservoirs were running low because of a deficient North east monsoon.

Andhra Pradesh released water from the Kandaleru reservoir on Monday. Authorities said they would release 500 cusecs of Krishna water, which is expected to reach Tamil Nadu by the coming weekend, The Hindu reported.

Tamil Nadu also receives 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water from Karnataka every day, as per a Supreme Court order. The states have been in a legal battle over sharing Cauvery water for months, with Tamil Nadu seeking water for irrigation and Karnataka arguing that the drinking water needs of its residents were its priority.