Sabarkantha protesters continue sit-in at rail tracks for 4th day

People of two villages and Member of parliament are sitting on the railway track and successfully agitating for their demands by blocking rail traffic between Udaipur and Himmatnagar in north Gujarat for last four days. This has paralyzed the railway traffic between Dungarpur and Himmatnagar railway stations. While trains from Udaipur(to Ahmedabad) have to terminate at Dungarpur railway station and returb back, the trains from Ahmedabad(to Udaipur) are terminated at Himmatnagar railway station for last four days. The agitating villages fall between Himmatnagar and Dungarpur.

Villagers of Sabarkantha district’s Vantda and Surajpura villages are demanding opening of railway crossing gate which they claim is closed for last two years. Sabarkantha’s BJP MP Mahendrasinh Chauhan is leading this agitation with active participation.

According to Chauhan the railway crossing gate no. 202 prevents entry of ambulance and vehicles of general use. Chauhan says the closed gate of crossing troubles the people when there’s an emergency. The gate also puts the people in trouble in monsoon.

Some Railway officials came to discuss the issue with the MP and the protesters and agreed with genuineness of the problem, but said they couldn’t help, and only higher officials could do something in this regard.