Puntamba villagers stage rail roko protest, demand train halts and better infra

Local residents and villagers of Puntamba and surrounding small villages in Maharashtra staged a rail roko for three hours at Puntamba Junction railway station on the DaundManmad railway line for their various demands The primary demand has been to restore halts to trains at the stationPuntamba Railway Station has been operational since the British era All trains used to halt at this station Citizens and pilgrims from the surrounding areas benefitted from the railway services However since the COVID19 period only one DEMU train stops here a letter and petition from villagers of Puntamba and surrounding villages saidIn the last four years the arbitrariness of the railway administration had caused inconvenience to the residents of this area by removing halts of up and down trains running from this junction Despite repeated correspondence there has been no response We have met everyone and sent petitions to DRM Pune GM Central Railway Rail Bhavan about stopping the train But this and various demands were not met the letter addedPuntamba village has always been a pilgrimage site The main shrine of the revered saint Changdev Maharaj is here About ten kilometers from this station is the pilgrimage site of Chidambar Swami attracting numerous devotees from South India Additionally Puntamba has the countrys best hospital for the treatment of paralysis patients For ordinary patients coming for treatment the railway is a safe and affordable mode of transport the letter addsA railway line was being laid from Puntamba to Shirdi At that time the then railway management assured the local citizens that all passenger trains would halt at Puntamba Junction Due to the nonfulfillment of this assurance the villagers now find it necessary to hold this Rail Roko The consequences good or bad will be the responsibility of the railway administration the letter addedThe protest was carried out peacefully and there was no loss or damage to railway property No politicians were involved in the rail roko Following the protest the railways have agreed to look into the demands of halting five trains at Puntamba station In addition to this Divisional Railway Manager Indu Dubey spoke to the leader of protestors from the village Dr Dhananjay Dhanwate over the phoneAccordingly commercial inspector Ashok Yadav has given a written assurance to the village sarpanch Swati Pawar deputy sarpanch Nikiti Jadhav after which the protestors vacated the trackDue to the coordination of RPF deputy security commissioner Sunil Chate and Ahmednagar assistant divisional engineer A Trivedi and villagers the protest ended peacefullyMore points from petitionRecently a chord line was laid from Daund to Shirdi and the halt of all trains at Puntamba was discontinued Therefore we humbly request that all passenger trains going to and from Shirdi Daund and Manmad be given a 2minute stop at Puntamba Junction and the chord line This movement is being initiated for this demandIt is necessary to resume the operation of all passenger trains that halted at Puntamba station before COVID19 including the Maharashtra Express Trains that previously stopped at Puntamba as well as the Jhelum Express Goa Express and the newly started AmravatiPune train should be given a 1minute stop at Puntamba Junction This will provide safe travel facilities for thousands of passengers in the regionThe underpasses constructed on the ShirdiDaundManmad rail route from Puntamba Junction are poorly designed This affects the movement of passenger buses school buses and farmers tractors Additionally large containers face difficulties here The road has been dug for cabling at Gate Numbers 58A and Gates 1 2 and 3 causing significant inconvenience for local citizens It is difficult to transport school children and in emergencies to take ambulances and fire fightersThe villagers and residents of Puntamba convened a special Gram Sabha on 24 July 2024 to address these issues In this Gram Sabha all villagers decided to initiate a Rail Roko movement