UP refuses water train from Centre for Bundelkhand

The Akhilesh government in Uttar Pradesh has turned down the Centre’s proposal to send a water train to Bundelkhand that has been severely affected by drought and water crisis. The Centre had earlier sent two water trains to Latur in Maharashtra.

“We do not have a Latur-like problem here. If we need water, we will inform the railways,” said a letter sent by the state government to the railways ministry. After refusing the water train, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, late on Thursday night, wrote a letter to Union minister for water resources Uma Bharti to send 10,000 water tankers to carry the water from bore wells, which are sometimes located far from the villages. UP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said that there was no need for a water train because there is no paucity of water in Bundelkhand as the state government had made arrangements. Besides, he said, there was a problem of storage. The water train with 10 wagons of water had reached Jhansi district late on Wednesday night and has been stationed there. The train was to reach Mahoba, but officials are now waiting for further orders. Interestingly, Mr Akhilesh used his official twitter handle on Thursday to ask the district magistrate of Jhansi to verify if the water train has water or not.

The terse letter and the UP government’s stand reflects a battle for credit in the state and also deriving political mileage for relief in the Bundelkhand region.

The water train was intended for the Mahoba area of Bundelkhand, where around 40 villages are facing a crippling shortage of water. Half the hand pumps have dried up due to the receding water levels.

“The administration has arranged for water to be drawn from government tubewells and sent to these villages in tankers. A water train would be no different, as tankers would have to travel long distances from the railway station to take water to the parched villages,” said an official.

The chief minister is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this week to discuss the Bundelkhand issue.

The Samajwadi Party spokesman, meanwhile, accused the local BJP leaders of asking the Centre for a water train in a desperate attempt to take credit from the Akhilesh government, which has already distributed relief packets in the region.