An 115-year-old well, built during the colonial times, found space in the official Twitter handle of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. The well, situated at Thrissur Railway station was recently renovated and this is what caught the attention of Railway Ministry and the minister.
Ministry of Railways tweeted a story that came on The Hindu and minister retweeted it with a message that "Unprecedented water initiatives launch,restoration all water bodies,creation of new,recycling,efficiency parameters,audits 300 CR savings pa".
Unprecedented water initiatives launch,restoration all water bodies,creation of new,recycling,efficiency parameters,audits 300 CR savings pa https://t.co/GsyWmQjUet
— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) June 9, 2017
It was the main source of water in the entire area when the railway station was built in 1902. The water was used by passengers as well as for steam engines. The British people had installed a special kind of hand pump at the well, which was an engineering wonder.
However, the well was abandoned after railways started using water from Peechi dam. It soon turned into a dumping yard and as the water weeds filled the well the hand pump also stopped working.
The drought that hit the state last year was an eye-opener as Thrissur Railway Station had to bring water from Aluva to fulfil their daily needs. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage had identified the well as a part of the history during a heritage walk conducted last year. Following this, Minister of
Agriculture V S Sunil Kumar allocated ₹21 lakh for its renovation and Nirmithy Kendra finished the work in six months.
The well is 10.5 metres deep and 40 ft wide and is situated near the goods shed near to station.