Drought-hit Latur gets 5 lakh litres water, courtesy 10-wagon train

A special train carrying around five lakh litres of water for parched Latur in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region, that is battling the worst drought ever, reached on Tuesday morning.

The water train with 10 wagons left from Miraj in western Maharashtra at around 11 am on Monday and reached Latur at 5 am on Tuesday, taking 18 hours to traverse a distance of around 350 kilometres.

“The first batch of 10 wagons, each with a capacity of around 50,000 litres, was filled with water at Miraj railway station in Sangli district,” said chief spokesperson of Central Railway, Narendra Patil.

The district administration acquired a huge well located near Latur railway station to store the water which will then be supplied to Latur town.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said his government and the railway ministry were working to bring relief to the people in the region.

A 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,” Patil said.

The carrying capacity of these wagons is 54,000 litres of waters per wagon.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also pledged his support, requesting residents of the national capital on Monday to save water that can be sent to Latur.