First train with 5 lakh litres of potable water reaches drought Latur

Mumbai: A special train carrying around five lakh litres of water for parched Latur in Marathwada region, which is battling the worst drought ever, reached the destination after 18 hours on Monday morning. As the train reached, local BJP leaders scrambled for taking credit over the temporary solution to the water crisis in the region. They sticked posters on the train that carried water to the parched region.

#Latur : Local #BJP leaders stick posters on the train that carried water to the parched region. pic.twitter.com/nIGPbylF6u

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) April 12, 2016

The 'water train' with 10 wagons carrying water for Latur had left from Miraj in western Maharashtra at around 11 am yesterday and reached Latur at 5 am on Tuesday, taking 18 hours to traverse a distance of around 350 kilometres. "The first batch of ten wagons, each with a capacity of around 50,000 litres, were filled with water at Miraj railway station in Sangli district," said Chief spokesperson of Central Railway Narendra Patil. "People are so happy that some of them stayed back here in night just to see rail wagons," said Shaikh Akhtar, Latur Mayor.

People are so happy that some of them stayed back here in night just to see rail wagons-Latur Mayor Shaikh Akhtar pic.twitter.com/59ISFmztVd — ANI (@ANI_news) April 12, 2016

The district administration has acquired a huge well located near Latur railway station to store the water which will then be supplied to Latur town. On April 8, the train had left from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division . The second train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a Railway official said earlier. "As per instructions from the Ministry of Railways, Kota workshop received two goods trains consisting of 50 tank wagons each for deployment in drought-affected areas of Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement," he said. The carrying capacity of these wagons is 54,000 litres of waters per wagon.