ByRail ministry to allow water purifier stalls at stations after CBI raids exposed drinking water scam.Signalling a possible end to drinking water woes of lakhs of suburban railway commuters, Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu on Monday said vendors will be allowed to install water purifiers at all stations, and sell a glass at Re 1 and a 500-ml bottle for just Rs 3.The measure comes after a CBI raid in Delhi exposed corruption in the sale of packaged drinking water at important stations and led to seizure of Rs 20 crore in cash. Two senior Northern Railway officials were suspended in the scam involving packaged water other than the mandatory ‘Rail Neer’.Allowing vendors for drinking water is part of the 103 announcements made during the Rail Budget announced earlier this year, Prabhu said, adding all announcements had been fulfilled by his ministry. He was in the city to inaugurate a new foot overbridge (FOB) and escalator at Borivali station.After the scam came to light, the railways have stopped selling packaged water other than Rail Neer, which is presently available only at major stations including CST, Dadar, Thane, LTT, Mumbai Central, Andheri and Borivali.Railways catering body IRCTC, which supplies Rail Neer, is hard put to fulfil the demand for packaged water at stations, and allowing private vendors of purified water is welcome, a senior Central Railway official said.The demand for allowing such vendors had also been made by BJP MP from Borivali, Gopal Shetty. Issuing instructions on this to the general managers of both CR and WR, Prabhu said, “I have given sufficient funds and clearances to dispense the money. I don’t want any lacuna in the project’s execution. I have asked senior officers of the both central and western railway to chalk out an action plan by the end of November for Mumbai.”He added that the proposal for the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3 involving an investment of Rs 10,000 crore has been sent to the Niti Aayog for final approval.