Journalism of Courage
A few hours after Ravi Kanojia, Principal Photographer with The Indian Express, was electrocuted Monday while on an assignment to cover a water train stationed at the Jhansi railway yard, railways officials moved the train back to Ratlam from where it had arrived on May 4. The 10-wagon train had been stationed at Jhansi waiting to supply water to the drought-hit areas of UP’s Bundelkhand region.
While on May 4 the wagons had arrived at the Jhansi railway station empty, they were filled with water on May 6. But around 7 pm Monday, the train was sent back to Ratlam.
[related-post]
North Central Railway’s (NCR) Chief PRO, Bijay Kumar, said that the train filled with water was sent back as no demand was received from any part of the state for supply of water by train.
The politics over the water train had started with district magistrates of Jhansi and Mahoba writing to the Railways that no water train was required in their districts and that the local administration was supplying water to drought affected areas by road tankers from their own water resources.
Jhansi is also the Lok Sabha constituency of Union Minister for Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti.
