Cheers filled the air as a train carrying five lakh litres of water pulled into Latur early this morning, several hours behind schedule and with far less water than originally planned.
Latur, nearly 500 kms from the state capital of Mumbai, has been scorched by drought. The train with 10 wagons specially designed to hold and transport water took 18 hours instead of six to cover nearly 300 kilometres from Miraj in western Maharashtra to its destination.
At Latur station, the wagons were connected to plastic pipes which routed the water into a massive cement pipe freshly laid along the tracks. From there, the water flows into a massive well, owned by a local farmer and empty till this morning.
After filtering the water to make it fit for human consumption, the water will be sent in tankers to residents for whom this is much-needed relief.
