Water wagon arrives, but Marathwada will remain parched for a few more days

The first of the 50-wagon water train arrived at Maharashtra's Miraj station on Sunday morning. But drought-hit Marathwada will have to wait for at least three more days to reap the benefits. The local administration is yet to lay a pipeline from the central railway's filtration plant to the marshalling yard, where the water rake is parked.

Divisional commissioner of Marathwada, Umakant Dangat, told dna that the work on laying the pipeline started only after getting the green signal from the railways last week.

"One has to prepare a plan and do the estimates. Only after that work can be undertaken. After working round-the-clock, the pipeline would be ready in the next three days," Dangat said on Sunday.

Two senior ministers -- Eknath Khadse, minister for agriculture, revenue and rehabilitation, and Pankaja Munde, guardian minister for Latur -- had visited Latur, Sangli and Miraj on April 5. The preliminary work on the pipeline started only after their visit. This is almost a fortnight after the 'water wagon for Latur' plan was set in place.

When was the decision taken?

The decision to transport water through railway wagons was taken on March 22. By March 26, the first rake reached the wagon repair workshop in Kota, Rajasthan, for steam-cleaning to remove fuel traces.

The second rake reached Kota on March 28. On April 1, railway minister Suresh Prabhu had tweeted about these two rakes being cleaned at Kota. On April 8, the West Central Railway dispatched the first rake after steam-cleaning and it reached Miraj on Sunday.

A senior CR official told dna that, as of now, the first trip of the water rake has not been decided. However, Dangat told this paper that the water train would reach Latur in a day or two.

"The water would be poured into a well, which would be provided to Latur residents with the help of tankers," said Dangat.

In addition, water from the Bhandarwadi dam, Sai Bandhara (barrage) in Latur and Dongargav will also be brought to Latur. "We would lay the pipeline till the water supply scheme at Arwi, in Wardha, in the next 4-5 days," Dangat said.

How the water wagon will collect water

The plan is to draw water into the rake from the intake-well on the banks of Krishna river near Miraj. The water from this intake well will be pumped to a jack-well owned by the railways. The state will install its own pump at the jack-well to take water to the railway's filtration plant close to the Miraj station. From the filtration plant, there will be a pipeline to take the water to the water-wagon rake, which will be stabled on track 6 of the marshalling yard at Miraj.