Treat water as infrastructure that must be built, paid for: CEA

M.V. Satish, adviser to CMD, Larsen & Toubro Ltd.; P. Ravichandran, chairman, Cll Southern Region; Chief Economic Adviser Anantha Nageswaran; and C. Devarajan, chairman, CIl Tamil Nadu, at Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Summit 2026 on Monday. | Photo Credit: S.R. Raghunathan Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India V. Anantha Nageswaran on Monday said water should be treated as infrastructure that “must be planned, built, and paid for”. He called for a policy that did not price water at zero and treat it as limitless. Mr. Nageswaran said the floor space index (FSI) was far below what other cities around the world allowed.Addressing the special plenary session of CII Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Summit 2026 in Chennai, Mr. Nageswaran said: “The answer is to treat water the way we have fina