Lucknow, May 29 -- As Lucknow reels under an intense summer heatwave, passengers at the city's busiest railway hub-Charbagh Station-are facing added hardship due to non-functional water vending machines across platforms. The breakdown has left travelers with no option but to buy bottled water priced at Rs 20 each. An HT reality check conducted on Wednesday found that most of the water vending machines, which are meant to dispense purified drinking water at nominal rates-Rs 2 to Rs 5 per litre-were out of service. Railway officials attributed the issue to ongoing power cuts. "We are facing electricity shortages of 2 to 4 hours daily," said a railway official on condition of anonymity. "In such cases, we prioritise electricity for essential services like lights, fans, and office operations. Since the vending machines, equipped with RO and refrigeration systems, consume considerable power, we're unable to run them consistently during these outages." The official further added that the Charbagh station receives power from the Lucknow Electric Supply Administration (LESA). During outages, the station relies on a generator capable of producing up to 500kV, which is insufficient to meet all demands. When contacted, Kuldeep Tiwari, senior divisional commercial manager (DCM) of the Northern Railway's Lucknow Division, acknowledged the issue. "There was no power supply for a few hours, due to which the machines were not working," he said. However, when informed that the problem has persisted for several days, he assured, "We will get this checked and ensure that water supply is not interrupted." (Inputs from Shruti Kapoor and Pratishtha Vats)...