Central Railway ticket checkers present refurbished cycles, footwear and stationary to SSC students in tribal Palghar village this exam season
The bicycles will save the school children several kilometres of walk
Railway ticket checkers from the Central Railway (CR) Mumbai have been collecting broken bicycles from housing societies, fixing them and donating them to school kids in the tribal-dominated Jamsar village in Palghar. In addition to this, bulk collection and donations also include footwear, books, and pens/pencils for kids appearing for SSC exams.
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Walking all the way to school in the sun and rain has been a problem. The roads are bad, and there are not many options for faster transport. The bicycles have come as a boon,” said Class 9 student Swapnil Jayram Vad from the Bambreapada hamlet in the village.
The bicycles will save schoolchildren several kilometres of walking
“The bicycles will be useful for commuting to school and also for daily activities. We thank the cycle uncles who gave them to us,” said another Class 9 student, Karan Santosh Wagh, from the Dharamhatti hamlet.
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How collection began
“When we first went around in nearby housing societies asking for broken bicycles for donation, we did not get an encouraging response. Then we wrote formal letters to the secretaries of housing societies. This helped us get the bicycles. Many of them were broken, some were abandoned, and some were in good condition. We collected them all, got them repaired and made them functional. At the end of it, we had around 25 bicycles in healthy condition from societies in Thane and Kalwa,” ticket checker Abhay Kamble, who came up with the idea, said.
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Ticket checkers undertook the initiative under the umbrella of the Central Railway Ticket Checking Staff Welfare Trust. Pics/Rajendra B. Aklekar
The bicycles and other donations went to Jamsar High School in Palghar district. The village has a population of around 1,400 and is around 8 km away from the nearest town of Jawahar.
Children walk 3-9 km
“All these students walk between 3 and 9 km just to reach school. Besides bicycles, we gave uniforms to 10 children who needed them; we gave books and school kits with pens, pencils, stationery and exam pads to 30 children who are appearing for SSC exams. We also gave footwear to many children when we noticed that they were walking barefoot,” another ticket checker, Sunil Sambre, who played a significant part in the event said.
“We have been doing these activities under the Central Railway Ticket Checking Staff Welfare Trust. We use the trust funds for such activities as a mark of giving back to the society,” Harish Mondkar, ticket checker and vice-president of the trust, said.
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