Despite being the second largest revenue spinner next only to Chennai, passengers leaving and arriving Coimbatore Junction are provided only with bore well water drawn from Valankulam for drinking, as the Junction is yet to get Siruvani water supply.
The railway station fetches a daily revenue of Rs. 30 lakh and an annual revenue of Rs 110 crores through passenger and freight charges. Enquiries revealed that the Southern Railway approached the civic body one-and-a-half years back for a water supply connection, with a request that they need close to one lakh litres of water a day. Then, the civic body had asked the railway authorities to wait till the water scarcity gets over. Thereafter, efforts were never pursued for getting a connection. The railway authorities are at present sourcing water from a bore well sunk near Valankulam, a polluted water body. The water drawn from Valankulam was supplied through 62 taps at the railway station. Earlier, there was a water pipeline at the Coimbatore Junction with a supply of 5,000 litres a day. Owing to lack of facilities to store water, the connection became useless. Medical and Sanitation wing officials at the Coimbatore Junction said that though the water is drawn from the bore well, adequate attention was being paid to treat the water and make it safer for the public use. But, the same was being disputed and challenged by activists who have subjected the water for laboratory examination. Considering the present storage level in Siruvani reservoir, Southern Railway authorities have renewed their efforts and are on the job of applying for a “bulk” water supply connection besides construction of tanks for storage.
