Farmers’ body threatens to dismantle railway tracks

VADODARA: Bharatiya Kisan Union (A), a farmers’ body, has threatened to dismantle railway tracks and disrupt train movement between Anand and Godhra if the Anand district administration and railway authorities fail to resolve problems faced by residents of a village in Umreth taluka.

The farmers, who have given a one-month ultimatum to the administration, said that residents of Bhilyapura are undergoing daily hardships because of a railway crossing near Ratanpura village. The body alleged that since 2011, the railway crossing is on paper a “manned railway crossing” but there is no gatekeeper to open or close the gates.

“Around 500 villagers in Bhilyapura have to struggle daily to cross this crossing which remains closed. This crossing is officially a manned crossing, having a separate room for the gatekeeper and even a telephonic connection apart from equipment that are kept for the gatekeeper. But it seems there is a ghost employee who is drawing salary from the railways,” said Ravi Patel, president of Gujarat unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union (A).

“We have submitted memorandums to the administration time and again but the officials have failed to address the problems and hence the ultimatum,” he said.

Patel added that during medical emergencies, there are no means whereby an ambulance can reach the spot. “A couple of months back, villagers had to lift a pregnant lady to take her to an ambulance which was nearly half a km away. Unfortunately, the infant did not survive,” he said, adding that villagers have also lost their cattle as veterinary doctors are not ready to reach the village after jumping the crossing. On Friday, villagers staged a dharna and later submitted a memorandum to mamlatdar urging his intervention or bear the onus of the agitation.