Title - Passengers fume as taps at railway station run dry

Ludhiana:
With the mercury soaring, the taps at the local railway station have gone dry, leaving passengers high and dry. Irate passengers have complained that the railway authorities are adopting a casual approach towards the drinking water problem.During a visit to the railway station today, it was found that the taps were running dry due to which passengers had to face a lot of problem, with many of them forced to buy bottled mineral water from stalls at the station.As soon as a train from Jammu Tawi arrived at the platform No. 1, a large number of passengers alighted from the train and rushed towards the taps with empty water bottles. However, they had to return disappointed. Many of them bought mineral water from vendors at the station.A passenger, Deepak Kumar, said, "I boarded the train from Jalandhar along with my family. I got down at the station to fill up water in an empty bottle, but the taps were dry. I had no option but to buy a mineral water bottle since my children were thirsty."However, those who could not afford to but mineral water were at the receiving end. "I don't have enough money to buy mineral water. There was no water in the taps on the platform," said Kamaal Khan, another passenger.

Station Supervisor Ravinder Sharma said he visited the platform to take stock of the situation.

Senior Section Engineer Lal Chand said, "There was a power shutdown. The pumps are not connected with generators due to which the taps at the station ran dry."

Assistant Divisional Engineer K Garg said, "I have not received any complaint regarding the water problem at the station. I will look into the matter". The water problem was reportedly solved later in the day.