25 minutes agoAuthor: Rajesh Sahu
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Prayagraj has Dayalpur railway station. To save it, the people here fought a long and unique struggle. He used to reach the station everyday and take tickets from the ticket counter and go back home without traveling. The next day someone else went, he also took the ticket and went back home without going anywhere. This sequence went on for about 6 months. The station survived. But even now essential trains do not stop at the station. Because of this, the condition of the station has started deteriorating again.
Dainik Bhaskar’s team reached Dayalpur to know the story of the station and the struggle of the villagers. Talked to the people who pulled the train to save the station. Took police sticks and are struggling again today. Let’s know everything from the very beginning…
The station was built for a month in Kumbh and then demolished
Before the year 1954, Dayalpur railway station was built only for one month and then it was demolished.
It is about the year 1954. Jawaharlal Nehru’s government was in the country. At that time, a campaign was launched in Dayalpur, a rural area of Phulpur, Nehru’s parliamentary constituency. There was a campaign to build a permanent railway station there. Actually, then a temporary railway station was built here only during the Magh Mela held in Prayagraj. As soon as the fair was over, the station was also demolished here.
It went on like this for a long time, but later the educated youths of the village started feeling the need of station in the village. He started the demand to make a permanent station here. Paperwork done. The matter reached PM Nehru. Nehru immediately asked Lal Bahadur Shastri to get the station built. The foundation stone of Dayalpur station was laid within 6 months as soon as it was approved by the ministry. However, no action was taken for the next 6 years. In the year 1958, employees were appointed and the process of stoppage of trains started.
25 tickets were not sold every day, so the station was closed
Everything was fine for about 47 years after the station was built. When the station was built, the condition of more than 20 nearby villages like Tejopur, Saidaha, Rahaispur, Malak Bela, Hardua, Gaharpur improved. Students started going to Allahabad University to study, it became easy to sell ration in the city. At the same time, it became easier for the working people to come and go. But, in the year 2005, this station was closed again.
In fact, railways can close stations that do not meet certain standards. If there is a station on the main line, at least 50 tickets should be deducted there every day. Whereas, if a station is on a branch line, then at least 25 tickets should be sold there every day. If a station does not meet these standards, it is turned off.
This is a photo of 2019 when police and railway officials came in the midst of people’s protest for the station.
The daily earnings at Dayalpur station were also low as per railway standards, so that too was closed. The people of the village united on this sudden change. He sent letters from Prayagraj to Lucknow-Delhi. Talked to the local leaders to get the station started again, but there was no hearing.
Radheshyam, a resident of the village, says, “When the train stopped stopping here, people started pulling chains to get down. This sequence started happening in every train. The administration became strict. It deployed GRP men in every general coach. Like now There would be chain pulling and whoever came down, the GRP men would chase and beat him, sometimes take him to Pratapgarh and sometimes to Prayag. However, they would let him go without any legal action.”
MP said if you buy ticket then it will start again
After the closure of the station in 2005, people started meeting the leaders of their area to get it started again. The MLAs said that this is a matter related to the Central Government, so contact the local MP. Keshari Devi Patel of BJP is currently the Member of Parliament in this area which falls under Phulpur Lok Sabha seat. Earlier, UP’s Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was the MP. Before him Kapil Muni Karwaria of BSP was elected by the public. The villagers wrote letters to all of them. These MPs also took it forward, but the result did not come out.
- In 2019, people spoke of not voting in the Lok Sabha elections, but later they withdrew the boycott after assurance from the authorities.
nowhere to go but had to buy tickets everyday
Puneet Singh, who is handling the responsibility of the station, says that the current MP said that if ticket sales increase, more vehicles will stop at the station. After this the people of the village formed a committee. The work of that committee was to buy tickets everyday and not go anywhere. This decision was taken in January 2022 and 77 tickets worth Rs 2675 were sold on the remaining dates of that month. In February this number reached 408 tickets. Maximum 455 tickets were bought in the month of May. At that time its price was Rs.15815.
The station started again, but no government employee was kept here. Puneet Singh was kept here on contract basis. They get 15% of the tickets sold.
The station started but the trains did not stop
The drive for people to buy tickets was successful. The station reopened but trains did not stop. Presently only one train named Prayagraj Sangam-Ayodhya Cantt stops here. Its route is also not according to the people here. This train leaves Prayagraj for Ayodhya daily and stops at Dayalpur station at 07:31 for 1 minute. In the night, this train comes from Ayodhya at 10:40 and goes to Prayagraj.
When we entered inside the village, we found little Lal and Guddu. Earlier, the little one used to work as a mason in the city, now he lives in the village due to the closure of the train. Nanhe says, “If the train had run, we would have gone to work in the city. Here we get 600 rupees, there we get 800 rupees.” Guddu works as a laborer. He says, “Here I get Rs 300-350, while if I go to the city, I get Rs 600.”
We talked to other people from the village itself. He says that Saryu Express leaves from here in the morning. The train goes from Lucknow to Mughalsarai, if both of them start stopping for a minute each, then the condition of this station will improve.
We tried to contact DRM office Prayagraj in this regard but could not get through. A railway official says that one reason for the train not stopping at Dayalpur is that there is a single track here. If there are two tracks, then the possibility of stopping the trains will increase here.
- At present, the struggle of the people here to save the station is unique. Even today people are hopeful that the situation here will improve in future and the stoppage of vehicles will be increased.
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