Daisy
Patna : Bihar CM Nitish Kumar recently said that the state government could not send water tankers to the drought hit Marathwada region in Maharashtra due to non-availability of railway water tankers in Bihar. But, the Railway Board is not buying this theory of Kumar. Railways strictly follows the ‘ principles of economy ‘ while transporting relief to any part of the country. Bihar CM’s request for water tankers was not in consonance to this principle of economy , a source in the Railway Board said .
A Board official said that it would have been difficult for railways to carry water tankers from Bihar, a distance of about 2,000 km to reach the drought hit Latur in Maharashtra . Besides, there is no water filtration plant in Bihar to pump water into water tanker wagons , he said .
For carrying water tankers to any part of the country, railways must ensure purity of water. Water tankers are hauled by a goods train only and it would have taken two to three days to reach water tankers from Bihar to Marathwada region and it would have been difficult for railways to maintain purity of water, a source in the Board said .
Concerned over the acute water scarcity, railways had pressed into service at least 50 water tankers from Kota to the drought hit area in Maharashtra on the request of Maharashtra CM . Kota was the nearest point from where water tankers were filled and transported easily much to relief of the people in the parched Latur area, sources said adding there was no point to carry water from Bihar when water was available from the nearest distance .
According to sources, a water tanker has the capacity of carrying about 54,000 litre . But railways carries about 50,000 litre of any materials in the wagon tanker as safety measure so that the filled materials do not spill over . A filtration point is a necessary to pump materials into the wagon tankers . Railways always comes forward to carry relief materials free of cost in any calamity. In the recent earthquake or floods that occurred in the county or in Nepal , railways was at the forefront to rush in relief materials to areas concerned, sources said .