Title - Water taps run dry in railway station

GURGAON: Hawkers selling bottled mineral water at Gurgaon railway station are doing brisk business since almost none of the water taps on the platforms is functioning. The situation is so bad that regular visitors to the station wonder if this lack of free drinking water on the platforms is a ploy to augment the sale of bottles water.

When TOI visited the station on Saturday, all the water taps were dry. Passengers were running from one tap to another and were not getting water anywhere.

"This is not something new. The station has been facing water scarcity for the last several days. There is a big overhead tank at the vicinity of the station where water is supplied by the Haryana Urban Development Authority. When water is being supplied to the railway quarters, why it is not coming to the station?" said a GRP employee at the station.

Besides drinking water, supply is also missing at the washrooms. "We are waiting outside the waiting room because of the stink inside. I am waiting for the train to Bhuj in Rajasthan for the last two hours. There is no water, the waiting room stinks and we have stray dogs for company," said Anand Rana, a passenger.

If it rains, passengers cannot even wait in the platform as water sips though the broken roofs of the station and drench the platforms.

Neeraj Sharma, CPRO, Northern Railways, said, "We do not know the exact reason why there is no drinking water in the platforms. We will take the matter with DMR of the northern railways."