After promising that it would not charge the Maharashtra for providing wagons to ply water to drought-affected areas, the Railways has now raised a bill of Rs 4 crore for its services. At a meeting last week on drought preparedness with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi the state requested the Centre to foot this bill.
The Railways has so far dispatched three 50-wagon water rakes from Rajasthan to Latur, which needs 50 million litres water every day. The first of the water trains had arrived from Miraj to Latur and so far 40 million litres of water has been delivered to Latur by these “water express”.“We have received a bill of Rs 4 crore and have now requested the Centre to foot it. So far, there is no plan to supply water to other cities, ” chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya told The Hindu .