Railway starts fencing along tracks in Bhusawal division, irks farmers

Nashik: The Bhusawal Division of Central Railway has started fencing both sides of the tracks, a move that has irked farmers as they are unable to carry their cattle across to their farms."The farmers have bought pieces of land parcels, even across the tracks, and usually take their cattle to the farms for agriculture purpose. Withthe construction of fences, the distance between their homes and farms have now increased from one km to five km as we have to look for vehicular underpasses (VUP) from where we can cross over, both while going to farms and returning home," said Sharad Bhangale, a farmer from Jalgaon taluka.Often thefarmerare forced to keep their cattle on farms belonging to others. "We are facing a big problem in dealing with the situation. The best thing the railways could do is leave some opening that will allow farmers to cross the tracks and close the fences," said Ramesh Dushing a farmer from Nashik. "The trains now operate at 120 kmph. The primary aim is to cut down cattle run over (CRO) that leads to death of cattle and even affects the movement of trains, though the chances of derailment risking lives of passengers cannot be ruled out. The fencing is the only way to cut down on such incidents," a railway official said. The official ruled out the feasibility of keeping some opening as farmers often fail to close the same and if a stray cattle enters and fails to exit, it will be trapped inside. "Who will take the respnsiblity of the same. Currently, the option remains of using safe underpasses to get across the tracks," he said. Ends