Chennai, Feb 13 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government is gearing up to meet the water shortage that may arise during summer this year and supply 550 million litres per day (MLD) water to Chennai.

The government plans to take measures like digging new borewells and deepening existing ones, supply of water through tankers, at an outlay of Rs 1,015.34 crore, said Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani.

Replying to a special call attention motion, the minister said tenders have been invited to clean and supply 40 MLD water from two stone quarries to meet the requirement of Chennai city,.

Tenders have also been invited to dig nine borewells in Neyveli to supply 10 MLD water.

According to Velumani, steps are being taken to supply 90 MLD water from lignite mines in Neyveli and two river beds.

He said bids have been invited to set up water purification plants, supply of water from farm wells and for other projects.

Velumani said water from Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh is also expected to quench the city's thirst.