COIMBATORE: Drinking water supply to Pollachi railway station from Aliyar river will be restored after a break of 14 years. Officials of Palakkad division of Southern Railway are expected to float tender for installing air valves and repair pipeline on December 5. The station and the residential colony currently gets water supply from borewells and a well within the station.
“We will re-lay a pipeline for about 60 metres within the existing 7 km pipeline from Ambarampalayam river to Pollachi station. We have identified 50 locations for carrying out pipeline correction works and installing air valves. Total estimate of the project is Rs 91.84 lakh and the works are expected to be completed before the current financial year,” official sources said.
The sources further said that since 2008, the 100-year-old station stopped getting drinking water from Aliyar river at Ambarampalayam as the pipeline was damaged during the conversion of meter gauge into broad gauge and it had to depend upon alternative water source for over a decade. The passengers are getting drinking water from a RO system installed on platform number 1 in the station.
Joint Secretary of Pollachi Train Passenger Welfare Association T Krishna Balaji said, “We welcome the improvement works at Pollachi railway station, since over 1,200 passengers use five trains from the station daily.”
Sources in the railway colony said 125 families used to live in the railway quarters in 2008, only 25 families reside in the colony now. A railway staff said, “We have been sourcing water from private units for drinking and cooking and using borewell water for other purposes. Getting water from the river will be helpful for us.”