Thane, Navi Mumbai to get water from railways dam

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu asked the railways to help the civic bodies of Thane and Navi Mumbai by letting them use the water from the dam near Parsik Hills

Thane and Navi Mumbai, which has been battling severe water scarcity, have finally got some relief with the railways giving permission to the civic bodies to use water from its dam in Parsik Hills near Thane.

During his visit to Mumbai on Thursday, railway minister Suresh Prabhu told the railway administration to help the civic bodies of Thane and Navi Mumbai by letting them use the water from the dam.

SK Sood, general manager, Central Railway, said, “We have allowed Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) to take water from the railway dam at Dighe for next three months.” Prabhu tweeted on Friday that along with Navi Mumbai, Thane too will be given water from the dam.

“Rail dam in Thane dist is helping Navi Mumbai by supplying water,we will do the same for Thane by supplying water to the Municipal Corpn,”he tweeted.

Railway officials, meanwhile, said they are not sure how much water the dam has at present. When it was being used by the railways, it had the capacity to supply 15 million litres water daily.

“Water collected from this dam is directly supply to Thane station via pipeline. After electrification of railway, it didn’t need much water. Now this water can be used to deal with shortage.” said Sadashiv Tetvilkar, who has written a book on history of Thane.