Packaged Rail Neer. Telegraph picture

Patna, Feb 10: Chief minister Nitish Kumar is taken seriously not only by people of Bihar, but even those who have heard about the turnaround he is scripting in Bihar. Railway minister Mamata Banerjee appears to be one among them. She has lapped up an advice of Nitish on marketing of mineral water brand Rail Neer, a USP of Indian Railways.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been given the responsibility of marketing the Rail Neer brand in the open market. It will begin from Bihar.

To begin with, this brand of mineral water would be available in the markets of Patna and Danapur. “The Rail Neer will be available in the local market from today itself,” IRCTC regional manager A.K. Jha told The Telegraph.

Jha’s words must be music to Nitish’s ears. For, it was he during whose stewardship of railway ministry the first plant of Rail Neer was set up at Khagaul near Patna on February 27, 2004. Railway, however, had kept this brand confined to trains and railway stations only.

Sources in the Indian Railways said the idea of providing packaged water to the passengers had hit Nitish, the then railway minister, after his visit to Japan. During a train journey there he witnessed the practice of packaged water being served on trains. Nitish made up his mind of setting up a packaged water plant.

To ensure that the Rail Neer is available easily to the customers, IRCTC has done its homework well by roping in the services of a professional agency. It has put in place a network of shops, which are making this brand available to customers. The one-litre bottle of Rail Neer would be available at Rs 12.

Jha is confident about the popularity of this brand. He said: “Rail Neer is purified and bottled at a state-of-the-art plant which guarantees its good quality. This mineral water has low content of dissolved solids and free from all pathogenic bacteria and viruses as well as other harmful elements.”

There appear many takers of his words. Brij Mohan, a resident of Buddha Colony, said: “It is a welcome move. People like us wanted this long back because one can trust the Rail Neer brand.”

To begin with, 18000 bottles of Rail Neer would be supplied to the local market. After three months, its market demand would be reviewed.

The Khagaul Rail Neer manufacturing plant, which was set up at a cost of Rs 15 crore, currently supplies packaged water to Varanasi, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Bhubaneswar, Calcutta and Guwahati stations. It has been fulfilling the needs of all the five divisions of East Central Railway too.