Special water train from Vellore reaches Chennai

CHENNAI: A special 50-wagon train, which is carrying around 2.5 million litres of water from Jolarpet in Vellore district, started its journey on Friday morning and reached Chennai at noon.
Railway officials said after the water filling started around 1am in the night, the train left at around 7.10am.
It reached Villivakkam station in Chennai around 12pm where state ministers received it.

The train was flagged off from the Jolarpet station in the morning. The trial run from Mettu Sakrakuppam pumping house to the filling station at Jolarpet has been successful.
ANI photo
The train is carrying 55,000 litres of water in each of the 50 wagons and is meant for Chennai City which is currently battling a water crisis.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami had announced the state government's plans to transport 10 million litres of water daily by rail from Jolarpet to meet the needs of parched Chennai. He said a sum of Rs 65 crore had been allocated for this purpose.
Currently the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Chennai Metro Water) is supplying about 525 million litres per day (MLD) in the state capital. The water from Jolarpet will augment the existing supply.
While the Cholavaram (full capacity 1,081 mcft) and Redhills (full capacity 3,300 mcft) reservoirs and Chembarambakkam lake (full capacity 3,645 mcft) that supply water to Chennai have run dry, 16 mcft water is left in the Poondi reservoir (against a full capacity of 3,231 mcft), according to the Chennai Metro Water.
Chennai has been grappling with an acute water crisis over the past four months. The southern metropolis is facing a daily water deficit of at least 200 million litres, and the four reservoirs supplying to the city have run dry. The rich haven't been spared either, but their suffering is nothing compared to the working class.
Rampant unplanned development, deficient monsoon last year coupled with inadequate urban planning has brought Chennai to its knees.
(With inputs from IANS)