Third of water supplied via tankers at Egmore only on paper: Officials

Railway officials may have chanced upon a massive water scam at Chennai Egmore Terminal. At least a third of the trucks engaged to source water for the second most important terminal of the zone remains only on paper, leaving the terminal high and dry.

The station with a footfall of over 1.3 lakh people per day, depends solely on private tanker lorries to keep the taps running. The station requires between 15 and 20 lakh litres a day to refill trains and supply water to every part of the station, mainly waiting rooms and retiring rooms which consume a lion’s share of the water. “A third of the water supplied through tanker lorries only remains on paper. But the trip sheets and official registers record it as fully delivered by the contractor,” said a railway official requesting anonymity.

“Sometimes, the tankers come half empty and deliver only half the stipulated quantum of water, while the register will record it as having received the full tank from the contractor,” the official source revealed. There were also cases of brimming tankers supplying half tank in one instance and emptying the remaining half later so that it could be recorded as two trips, the source said, adding that the Railways would be paying two trip charges for one tanker full of water. Officials attributed the recent spurt in complaints from people to short supply.

A visit to the waiting rooms at the station reveals the gravityof the scam.

“Taps in most of the waiting rooms are dry in the morning. The engineering department blames it on motor fault or an electric problem. Everyone there knows that short supply is the problem. They do it in such a way that it does not look obvious,” a senior SR officer told DT Next. “Supply will be full on the first day. The quantum of water would be reduced in the following three days. The cycle will be maintained so that officials don’t keep track,” an SR engineer explained. “Proper supply will be maintained when the station management reports acute shortage.”

“Around 40 trips per day would be enough, but the management has been made to believe that a minimum 60 trips is needed for bare necessities,” the engineer added. Water supply is normal during official visits, as was the case when the Passenger Amenities Committee and Passenger Services Committee visited the station a few days ago. “How did they keep all taps working, including those in the waiting rooms during the committee visit? Who told them about the visit?” the officer wondered.

Following the sudden spurt in public complaints, especially on Twitter, division-level officials had paid a surprise visit to the station backyards a few weeks ago and had inspected the water pumping area.

An engineer was shunted out of the station following the inspection which confirmed that something was amiss. Sleuths of Railway vigilance had also pitched in after complaints poured in.