Speaking to dna, Anil Saxena, the chief spokesperson of Indian Railways, confirmed the move.
Is Maharashtra planning to scale up its 'water by train' project which, so far, has resulted in the successful transportation of 24.5 million litres of water from Miraj to the parched Latur region in the past 16 days? It seems so, because two more 50-wagon fuel rakes have been sent to the Wagon Repair Workshops at Kota in Rajasthan and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh to be steam-cleaned and readied for water-carrying duties. Two such water rakes, each with a capacity of 25 lakh litres, are already running in the state and have so far made 17 trips between Miraj and Latur.
Speaking to dna, Anil Saxena, the chief spokesperson of Indian Railways, confirmed the move. "We are readying two rakes so that in case of an emergency, we can deploy these as there is a drought in several areas," Saxena said. He added that the two rakes should be steam-cleaned and ready for deployment in the next 10 days.
However, some railway officials, on condition of anonymity, said that the two rakes are 'almost certainly' for Maharashtra, though they might not be for the Miraj-Latur stretch. "There are already two rakes for the Miraj-Latur plan and these are carrying 25 lakh litres of water almost on a daily basis. That is going pretty well. This might be for some other part of the state since the drought is fairly stark across Maharashtra," said a senior railway official.
Officials from Sangli district, under whose jurisdiction Miraj falls, and Pune railway officials also told dna that the two new water rakes might not be for the Miraj-Latur stretch. It is possible that some other stretch of Marathwada, or even Vidarbha, could be chosen for the water trips.
A text message to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on whether the state government has placed an order for these two rakes did not elicit a response.
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