The Tamil Nadu minister who was mocked for trying to prevent evaporation by covering the surface of a dam with sheets of polystyrene distanced himself from the project on Wednesday, NDTV reported. State Cooperatives Minister Sellur K Raju, who had placed thermocol sheets worth Rs 10 lakh on a portion of the Vaigai Dam in Madurai district last Friday, ostensibly to prevent evaporation, said it had not been his idea alone.

“No minister does such things unilaterally. There is no system in any government where a minister does such things suo motu,” Raju was quoted as saying by the news channel. He pointed out that late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s rainwater harvesting scheme had also been ridiculed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi before it won people’s approval.

Facing criticism for spending a large amount of public money on the scheme, Raju on Saturday had said only Rs 8,000 was spent, according to DNA. “We are planning to use plastic balls and plastic sheets to reduce evaporation on a trial basis. The dam, which is spread across 250 acres, has water in 60 acres. We are planning to cover two acres,” he had said.

Tamil Nadu has been reeling under a severe drought. Farmers had camped in Delhi for 41 days, demanding drought relief from the central government, before taking out a protest march in the southern state on Tuesday.