More halts at Palghar for betel leaf farmers? Western Railway says ‘we’re on it’

WR top bosses, including G V L Satyakumar, divisional railway manager, WR Mumbai (4th from left), at Palghar station on Friday

A Team of Western Railway Mumbai bosses on Saturday visited Palghar to meet betel leaf farmers to discuss and explore the possibility of more halts at the station, as tonnes of betel leaves are transported to north India via Palghar station every day.

Sources said that with not many trains halting at Palghar station currently, farmers are forced to try out various options to travel till Mumbai Central to send their wares to Delhi and Saharanpur which many of them cannot afford. "As trains are the most convenient and cheaper option, we try out various methods. We transport betel leaves from Palghar to Mumbai Central by road and then load them onto the 12903 Mumbai-Delhi Golden Temple mail. If the railways provides a halt at Palghar, we can load them here which will help us save money that we spend on road transport," a local farmer and trader said.

Also read: Mumbai: Western Railway to introduce 8 more AC local trains from Aug 8

"In some cases, farmers load leaves onto the 19019 Bandra-Dehradun Express which halts at Palghar. But this train takes 26 hours to reach Delhi and the time is not suitable for farmers as well as agents in Delhi who deliver them to local markets. The process takes around 48 hours from Palghar farms to Delhi markets," another farmer said. Following intervention by divisional consultative committee member Hrudaynath Prabhakar Mhatre of Mumbai Railway Pravasi Sangh, the WR Mumbai team led by Divisional Railway Manager G V L Satyakumar, senior divisional commercial manager and operations manager visited the station to explore
possible options.

The team held a discussion with farmers and said they would explore all possible options for new train halts at Palghar. They added that they will consult the railway board and work out a halt for the Bandra-Chandigarh Express
if possible.

They also assured that they would look into the demand of transport of betel leaves to Gujarat by examining if the halt time of 19217 Saurashtra Janata Express could be extended a bit for loading the packages. Farmers and traders said that if the halt is extended, they would be easily able to load 500 kg betel leaves that need to be transported to Gujarat.

"However, for north India transportation, WR should check on the feasibility of halting the 12903 Golden Temple mail here as the load for Delhi is around three tonnes daily," one of the farmers said.

Working out the economics, another farmer said that for the parcels of 3 tonnes daily to north India at the cost of R20 per kg, the railways could generate a revenue of R60,000 daily and another R10,000 from the 500 kg that is sent to Gujarat.

WR Mumbai Divisional Railway Manager G V L Satyakumar told mid-day, "We are trying ways and means to make the rail transportation of agri-produce from Palghar to various destinations possible. Now, the produce moves from Palghar to Mumbai by road and then gets loaded onto trains. We are finding how to remove this infructuous movement and add value in the supply chain." Himanshu Vartak, consultative committee passenger member of Palghar station and member of Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha, said, "We are thankful to the divisional manager and his team. Even in July, Satyakumar ji visited farms and learnt about the process. We are glad that railways is taking such efforts for farmers."

3Tonnes
Betel leaves sent to Delhi daily