Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal requested Delhi residents on Monday to save water that can be sent to drought-hit Latur in Maharashtra.
Kapil Mishra, a minister in the AAP government, said Delhi was prepared to send water to the parched district in Marathwada region, which is battling severe drought.
The assurance comes at a time the railway ministry has sent a train carrying around five lakh litres of water to Latur.
{{/usCountry}}The assurance comes at a time the railway ministry has sent a train carrying around five lakh litres of water to Latur.
{{/usCountry}}It is expected to reach on Tuesday morning, a railway official said.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has said his government and the railway ministry are working hard to bring relief to the people in the region.
“The first batch of ten wagons, each with a capacity of around 50,000 litres, was filled with water at Miraj railway station (in Sangli district of Maharashtra),” Narendra Patil, the chief spokesperson of Central Railway, said.
The train left for Latur around 11am on Monday after it reached Miraj from Rajasthan’s Kota a day ago.
Read: Train with five lakh litres of water leaves for Latur
Patil said the transporter’s priority was to reach out to the people, though he declined to comment on the charges the state government will have to pay.
In Delhi, Jal Board CEO Keshav Chandra said his agency was ready to help despite the water availability challenges in the city.
“We can send about seven lakh litres of water in one freight train. This is not a big amount,” Chandra said, and added: “There is a life and death situation in one part of the country.”
Delhi’s daily water production is around 900 million gallons. Seven lakh litres is around 0.2 million gallons.
“Freight train is not available with Northern Railways. Most probably, Western Railway will provide the water train,” a senior official said.
(With agency inputs)