High Court seeks report on Water supplied to Rail Passengers

High Court seeks report on Water supplied to Rail Passengers

New Delhi: While expressing concern over the quality of water supplied to the residents of railway colonies and passengers at railway platforms of the Northern Railway, the Delhi High Court has issued directions for collecting water samples from different divisions and sought a report on the issue.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said, while hearing a public interest litigation over the weekend that it would at present look into the aspect whether the people living in railway colonies and passengers were getting good quality of water.

The court sought to know about the status of the chlorination plants, while observing that it would issue directions to the authorities in its detailed order later.

The PIL, filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, has sought an independent and court-monitored probe into the neglect of the quality of the drinking water supply and the ‘manipulations in the award of contracts’ for supply of chlorination plants for the past several years.

The petition said while the Railways, having an independent water supply system all over the country, was able to keep trains running by meeting the requirement of water for washing and cleaning of trains, tracks and platforms, it had failed to supply safe and wholesome drinking water to millions of railway passengers and its staff living in railway colonies.

It also alleged that the Railways had continued to neglect the quality of water supply for several years and the records had shown the water quality ‘very unsatisfactory’.

The court issues directions for collecting water samples from different divisions and sought a report on the issue