Believe it or not, a railway track near here has been awaiting the Railway Ministry’s green light, not for years, but a century.

As per the land and railway records in Solapur, the British had not only acquired the land of farmers for the 135-km Lonad-Pandharpur track, after a detailed survey of the area in 1918, but had also disbursed the compensation.

The track would have linked the two places in Satara and Solapur districts.

The British had thought that the railway line would help them in exploiting the business potential of the two farm-rich areas, besides facilitating a passage for pilgrims who thronged the famous Lord Vitthala-Rukmini temple in Pandharpur every year during the Ashadi Ekadashi festival.

Tired with the “step-motherly attitude of the Union Railway Ministry”, the people have formed Lonad-Pandharpur Railway Action Committee. Advocate R.G. Rupnawar, who heads the committee, said that the ownership documents (the 7x12 extract in local parlance) still carry the name of the railways during the acquisition process in the British time. “We have been waiting for a century for this rail track. I’m sure had the British stayed on, we would have got the railway service,” says a villager from Paniv village, Solapur, Rajram Daulta Pawar, in his eighties. He proudly shows the land record: out of the 4 acres of his land, two were acquired by the Biritsh for the railway track in 1908.

According to Rupnawar, the railway stretch would reduce vehicular traffic on the busy Alandi-Pandharpur National Highway, as both run parallel to each other. Besides, it would be helpful for the 16 sugar factories and the region rich in horticulture.

... contd.