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By:

Minal Sancheti

2 May 2026 at 12:26:53 pm

Tussle between BMC, WR leaves Dadar dry

Mumbai: Dadar is the only railway station in Mumbai that has no authorised water connection. This, as per the sources, is due to an ongoing dispute between the Western Railway and the BMC. The tussle between the BMC and the Western Railway has led to a strange situation. The Western Railway is asking the BMC to pay Rs 338 crore for way leave charges, and the Western Railway has to pay Rs 22 Lakh to the BMC. The tussle has been going on for 12 years and remains unresolved. As per the sources,...

Tussle between BMC, WR leaves Dadar dry

Mumbai: Dadar is the only railway station in Mumbai that has no authorised water connection. This, as per the sources, is due to an ongoing dispute between the Western Railway and the BMC. The tussle between the BMC and the Western Railway has led to a strange situation. The Western Railway is asking the BMC to pay Rs 338 crore for way leave charges, and the Western Railway has to pay Rs 22 Lakh to the BMC. The tussle has been going on for 12 years and remains unresolved. As per the sources, due to this, the BMC has not given any new connections to the Western Railway, which needs the connections because of the increase in the capacity of new coaches. Currently, the Western Railway is facing a water shortage of 20 per cent for train operations. Thus, the water is being filled at the next train stops like Surat and Valsad, or wherever the train halts. The dependency on water tankers has increased because the Western Railway did not have enough water connections from the BMC. This has caused more expenditure for the Western Railway. For Dadar terminus, the Western Railway uses 40 water tankers, each water tanker of the capacity of 10,000 litres, which comes down to four lakh litres of water every day. Around eight water tankers of the capacity of 10,000 litres, which comes down to 80,000 litres of water, are required for Dadar station. In total, the Western Railway incurs expenses on 4,80,000 litres of water every day. BMC PRO Tanaji Kamble has denied that there was no water connection at Dadar Railway Station. “Every station has BMC water connection,” he said. Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Western Railway Vineet Abhishek said, “All efforts are being taken to ensure there is no inconvenience to our passengers.”

Power Bill An Issue

Power Bill An Issue

India’s agriculture sector is heavily dependent on monsoons for natural irrigation. Pumps are used as an artificial means to provide water for farms and plants. Farmers rely on grid electricity or diesel gen-sets to run the pump, which leads to huge delays and economic stress. Hence, for our farmers, an effective irrigation system such as the Solar Water Pump is a great boon. It increases their crop yield by ensuring a reliable and perennial supply of water to their fields. To overcome all the hurdles and combat the pollution, the Maharashtra government took the decision to replace diesel pumps with solar pumps.


After the lengthy discussions, the state government decided to go ahead with this new scheme. The proper strategy was worked out that will also reduce the subsidy burden on electricity bills. The Maharashtra government will distribute 25,000 sun pumps in the first phase of the Atal Solar Agriculture Pump Scheme, 50,000 solar pumps in the second phase, and 25,000 solar pumps in the third phase to farmers to meet their irrigation demands. The state government has set a target to distribute a total of 1,00,000 pumps to farmers over the two years. This initiative aims to provide sustainable energy solutions and promote environmentally friendly farming practices. A solar water pump is an application of photovoltaic technology which converts solar energy into electricity to run the pumping system thereby, replacing erratic grid supply and pollution-causing diesel-powered versions. The solar water pump is powered by solar modules that help draw surface or groundwater out for irrigation.


The Maharashtra Solar Pump Yojana offers various benefits to eligible farmers. Approved applicants will receive a subsidy for solar water pumps, enabling them to utilize renewable energy for irrigation. The scheme details the eligibility criteria which requires certain documents, and the step-by-step process to apply online. This will benefit the farmers as well as the other electricity consumers in many ways like day time power availability for agriculture pumping, decoupling the irrigation sector from power subsidy burden, minimizing cross subsidy burden on Commercial & Industrial electricity consumers, replacement of diesel pumps to reduce pollution.


Farmers having farmland with assured sources of water are eligible. However, the farmers having conventional Electricity connection shall not get the benefit of Solar AG Pump from this scheme. Farmers from areas which are not electrified through conventional sources of energy (by MSEDCL) will get the benefit of this scheme.


Farmers from Remote & Tribal areas can also participate in this scheme. The government has aimed to provide solar water pumps on subsidy basis for agriculture in the state. The government has a vision for ensuring that farmers get water for agriculture even when power is not present in the areas. Solar Pump Kusum Yojana is the much-hyped scheme of the government of Maharashtra.

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