Latur: It's neither a yes nor a no to Rs4 crore water bill waiver

The railway ministry walked a tightrope on Friday after getting pilloried on Thursday for sending a bill of Rs4 crore to the Latur district administration for the 6 crore-odd litres of water from Miraj to parched Latur by rail wagons. In a carefully worded press release, which gave out nothing about the waiver of the bill, the railway ministry said 'the settlement of expenditure is not relevant at this point of time as the most important matter is to continue uninterruptedly with the transportation of water to the people in their hour of need.'

The issue of settlement of dues is being considered separately by the ministry, a railway press statement contended.

Earlier, railway minister Suresh Prabhu's office directed dna's query on the water bill to the railway board's Directorate of Traffic Transportation (Policy). Its chief Satyendra Kumar told dna on Friday afternoon that the railway ministry had not decided on anything as far as a waiver was concerned.

The consensus among other senior railway officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was that the state government must pay the bill because it had received substantial amount of funds from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), which is a finance mechanism for states reeling under contingencies like drought, landslides and floods.

On December 29, 2015, Maharashtra was given Rs3,050 crore from the NDRF in a high-level meeting chaired by union home minister Rajnath Singh.

"After all, this fund is to be used for various arrangements to combat the drought. Carrying water by rail wagons to Latur is part of such anti-drought measures and so the state must use this fund to pay the railways. It is not about business but accountability and transparency. Every penny spent is taxpayers' money and it must be accounted for," said an official.

Incidentally, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, in an SMS query to dna on Thursday evening, had expressed a similar opinion. He said the railways being a public utility can demand a bill and the state would pay it from the funds it has received from the Centre to combat drought.