COIMBATORE:In this season of drought, help for the Coimbatore region is on track with the Salem Division of the Southern Railway offering to ferry water from other districts, or even states, to meet the requirement of Salem, Erode, Tirupur, Karur, Namakkal and Coimbatore districts. However, the caveat is that the district administration should shell out the logistical costs.
Hari Shankar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager of Salem Division, gave this assurance when members of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) enquired about it. “We are ready to bring water through railways’ tanker wagons to the districts in the division. But we have not received any requisition from the Tamil Nadu State or district administration concerned,” he said.
If the service is required, the district administration should make a requisition to the District Railway through their State counterpart and meet the transportation cost, which would be based on the distance covered, he added.
SV Stalin, a member of DRUCC, recalled the efficiency of the railways in helping the drought-hit Latur district in Maharashtra with a similar service. Then, water from the Naramada was carried by railway tankers and equally distributed to the public by the local administration, he explained. That was the reason they had sought the railways’ help in Tamil Nadu, following which the announcement was made.
He urged the local administration to use the railway service to address the drinking water scarcity in the present grim situation.