Lok Sabha Question No. 6402 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-04-12
Subject: Supply of Rail Neer
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: VIKRAM USENDI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6402 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.04.2017

## SUPPLY OF RAIL NEER

†6402. SHRI VIKRAM USENDI: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS  be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken any decision to ensure supply of Rail Neer at all major railway stations of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether the Government proposes to make the supply of Rail Neer mandatory and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d)  the  steps taken by the Government to make safe drinking water or Rail Neer available at all railway stations?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a) to (d) :  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  6402  BY  SHRI  VIKRAM  USENDI  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 12.04.2017 REGARDING SUPPLY OF RAIL NEER (a) to  (d):  Yes,  Madam.  At  present,  Rail  Neer  is  mandatorily  supplied  to passengers of all Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto/Suvidha trains.  There is also mandatory supply of Rail Neer in 139 pairs of trains and 200 stations  as identified by the Ministry of Railways. For remaining trains/stations, other brands of Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) bottles are being supplied to the passengers, as approved by the Zonal Railways. Presently, approximately 6 lakh litres of packaged drinking water is being supplied to passengers all over the Indian Railways, through production in seven Rail Neer plants located at Nangloi, Delhi (2003), Danapur, Bihar (2004), Palur, Tamil Nadu (2011), Ambernath, Maharashtra (2014), Amethi, Uttar Pradesh  (2015),  Parassala,  Kerala  (2016)  and  Bilaspur,  Chhattisgarh (2017).  However, since the estimated demand for PDW is approximately 25 lakh litres per day, six more Rail Neer plants are planned to become operational in the next two years which will augment the total capacity to approximately ten lakh litres per day.  In addition, 1106 Water Vending Machines  set  up  by  Indian  Railway  Catering  &  Tourism  Corporation (IRCTC) have been installed at 345 stations for dispensing drinking water to passengers at prescribed rates in refills and with containers as under:-

| Quantity   |   Refill (Amount in ₹ ) |   With Container (Amount in ₹ ) |
|------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
| 300 ml     |                       1 |                               2 |
| 500 ml     |                       3 |                               5 |
| 1 litre    |                       5 |                               8 |
| 2 litre    |                       8 |                              12 |
| 5 litre    |                      20 |                              25 |

Another 1100 Water Vending Machines are planned to be installed on other railway stations shortly.  Further, all railway stations already have provision of potable drinking water on all platforms to satisfy the needs of  rail  passengers,  free  of  cost.  On  most  of  the  important  stations, water coolers and chiller plants are also in operation for providing cold drinking water to passengers during the summer season.

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