AIADMK, DMK councillors clash over “credit” for Nemmeli desalination plant

CHENNAI: A war of words broke out in the Greater Chennai Corporation council on Thursday after AIADMK councillor KPK Sathish Kumar claimed that the Nemmeli desalination plant was brought in by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

"The former CM, during her regime, implemented the project which benefited people of Sholinganallur," he said.

DMK councillors immediately objected, saying it was former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi who initiated the project. "How can you fake the facts?" one of them asked, prompting Deputy Mayor M Magesh Kumaar to intervene. "It was under the DMK regime that the desalination plant was brought in," he clarified.

The 100 million litres a day (MLD) Nemmeli desalination plant was proposed and approved during the 2006–11 DMK government, with the foundation laid in 2010. It was later completed and commissioned in February 2013, during the AIADMK regime. A larger 150 MLD plant at the same site was inaugurated in February 2024 under the present DMK government.

Without retracting his statement, the AIADMK councillor doubled down, saying, "If the ward committee chairman accepts that it was former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami who inaugurated 11 medical colleges, I too accept it."

The exchange soon turned into a full-blown argument as DMK councillors demanded an apology. The AIADMK councillor's microphone was cut off while he continued speaking for over 20 minutes. He called it unfair, while Mayor R Priya said the councillor was speaking beyond the stipulated time.