Railways comes to the rescue of Thane and Navi Mumbai residents

With Thane and Navi Mumbai facing an acute water shortage, the country’s public transporter has decided to come to the aid of the city’s civic bodies.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu gained valuable insight on the state’s water crisis during his visit last week. Post his visit, he instructed Railway authorities to help the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in solving their water woes.

In accordance with Prabhu’s instructions, Railway authorities have decided to offer water from their own dam at Dighe (on Thane-Belapur road) to the water parched cities. Dighe dam is one of the many dams operated by the Indian Railways across the country.

For the next three months, NMMC and TMC will be able to lift water from the Dighe dam and transport it to the city with the help of water tankers. Officials from Railways and the two civic bodies will also be visiting the dam on Monday to work out other transportation related specifics.

Railways has also been helping drought-hit Latur by sending a freight train named ‘Jaldoot’ to the district since a few weeks. The train has transported over 120 lakh litres of water to the district so far.