Abandoned Jharia rly station, tracks ripped apart by thieves
In 11 years, thieves have stolen railway tracks, doors, windows and poles
The Jharia railway station in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad that was abandoned in 2005 due to underground coal fires has now turned into gambling den for local goons with thieves stripping bare the station complex.
In the span of 11 years, thieves have uprooted railway tracks, doors and windows of the station building, signal poles, platform passenger shed, and even cut iron rods and sheet of the foot overbridge, railway gates and other valuable articles worth crores of rupees, including the signage the railway station.
Though a team of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) is posted at the abandoned station to protect the property, pilferage continues unabated, residents say.
The Dhanbad divisional railway and RPF officials, however, claim that valuable property was removed before winding up the station.
Today, a railway computer reservation counter inaugurated by the then union railway minister Nitish Kumar in 2004, is the only visage that is intact at the 110-year old station.
Arun Kumar, the reservation counter staff, says that the railways earns between `25,000 and `30,000 for sale of ticket at the counter that is open for eight hours from 8 am to 2 pm, while during the marriage season sale of tickets goes up to `50,000 to `60,000 every day.
Despite the RPF deployment, thieves stole nine batteries from the computer reservation counter in February this year, paralysing the reservation system for more than two weeks, he says. The RPF, however, recovered the batteries and arrested the thieves.
The RPF personnel posted at the station come only to take their share from iron thieves, alleges president of Jharia Bachao Andolan Ashok Agrawal, who filed a case in the Supreme Court, challenging the railways decision to close the station.
For mining millions of tons of prime coking coal lying beneath 22km-long stretch of the Dhanbad- Jharia - Patherdih railway track, the railways closed the station in 2005, on the request of BCCL, citing that underground mine fire was posing a danger to the rail tracks.
The British laid the track for transporting coal in 1905 but following the closure, the once highest revenue earner for the Indian Railways in the country, the station has turned into milch cow for iron thieves and a gambling den for local goons.
Before the line was closed, there were 10 small stations and halting stops at Dobari, Bastakola, Dhansar, Jharia, Kujma Colliery, Basserie, Rajapur, Loyabad, Bansjora and Shankarpur that were in operation between Dhanbad- Jjharia and Patherdih railway stations with a number of trains, including the Dhanbad – Jamshedpur Swarna Rekha Express running on the line.
But now identity of these stations has been wiped out and unauthorized houses, illegal shops, poultry farms and grazing ground for buffalos have taken place, say local residents. “The railway godown at the station has turned into a toilet for local residents while the two-storied office building with missing doors and windows has turned into a gambling den of goons,” says Ravi Kumar, a student.
Senior officials at the Dhanbad railway division and RPF refuse to comment on the pilferage as they say that a case is pending in the Supreme Court.
A RAILWAY COMPUTER RESERVATION COUNTER INAUGURATED IN 2004 IS THE ONLY VISAGE THAT IS INTACT AT THE 110-YEAR OLD STATION