The first train pulling 10 tankers carrying half a million liters of water has been dispatched from Miraj, the western district of Maharashtra.
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He also asked the prime minister to make an appeal to every chief minister of the country to help Latur.
Water cruch has also hit Thane, adjoining Mumbai, with Municipal Commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal appointing nodal officers for each of the 10 wards to take up measures to tackle the situation.
Following Prabhu’s directives, 50 tank wagons, similar to the ones used to transport oil and milk, were sent to Kota workshop (Rajasthan) on April, they were thoroughly cleaned and sent for the onward journey to Sangli.
The late Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh’s family bastion for several decades, has been in the headlines ever since the district administration imposed prohibitory orders under Sec 144 of the IPC fearing water riots a fortnight ago.
Authorities said ferrying of water through train will help officials to ensure maximum number of residents get the drinking water. In the past year, more than 200 new colonies have been added to Delhi’s piped network, adding to the pressure on the water supply system. District collector Pandurang Pole welcomed the decision to bring water by trains to Latur but said it was not a permanent solution. “The first such train will reach Latur in next fortnight”, Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse told the Maharashtra Assembly during a discussion on the acute water scarcity in Latur. At around 4.30am on Tuesday, the train halted near the well along the tracks, about 5km from the city, which had been identified to store the water.
The second goods train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a Railway official said. “AAP is neither serious about Delhi nor Latur”, Gupta said. “It’s an incident of contentment for us thanks to the administration”.
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The long Que for the water in Latur city during the last week of March.
