South Western Railway (SWR) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Rotary International District 3191 to implement a rainwater harvesting system at the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Bengaluru Railway Station, a project expected to conserve 7.5 million litres of rainwater annually.

According to a release, the initiative is also projected to save nearly ₹1 crore every year in water-related expenditure. The MoU was signed in the presence of Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Ashutosh Kumar Singh by Additional Divisional Railway Manager Praveen Katarki and Rotary International District 3191 District Governor Anil Gupta.

Mr. Singh said that the collaboration is the first-of-its-kind between Indian Railways and an external organisation for such sustainability initiatives.

“Rotary will mobilise corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding for the project, while SWR would provide the required space without incurring any financial expenditure. KSR Bengaluru station has sufficient area to effectively harvest rainwater,” he said.

The release stated that beyond rainwater harvesting, the partnership will focus on health camps, blood donation drives, eye screening programmes, tree plantation, station beautification, drinking water facilities, sanitation campaigns, educational initiatives, women and child welfare, disaster relief, and passenger amenity projects.