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Pure water at Rly stations for Rs 3 soon
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
Nov 23
In less than two months, passengers would be able to access clean, purified drinking water at Railway stations for as low as Rs 3 a litre - provided they carry their own bottles.
By this fiscal-end, about 400 reverse osmosis machines that would purify water will be set up at 34 stations across the country by water purifying companies Ion Exchange, Kent RO and Nuchem Weir.
The stations include Allahabad, Secunderabad, Nanded, Hyderabad, Ambala and Danapur.
The machines would also have a cooling option. The move is likely to affect the business of companies selling purified, packaged water in trains and stations.
Stating that in the bottled water business, the cost of bottle (Rs 2.50 for IRCTC's one litre bottled water), transportation and taxes increase the cost of product, Dr P.K. Goel, Managing Director of IRCTC, said: "Passengers can carry their own bottle and fill a litre of water for Rs 3 and one glass for Rs 2."
Since IRCTC's aim is not to make money from this venture, the companies would pay nominal charges of about Rs 20,000-25,000 a year per unit for setting them up, said Mr Vinod Asthana, GGM (Operations) of IRCTC.
The companies would operate the units for five plus three years, based on the contract.
IRCTC aims to set up 1,600 such drinking water outlets in subsequent phases by December 2007.
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