The Western Railway(WR) will take the help of the India Post department to transport the famous betel leaves, coconuts and other agro produce from Kelwe in Palghar so that the same reaches New Delhi, Varanasi, Patna, Lucknow and other North India cities where the betel leaves have a good market, said GVL Satyakumar, Divisional Railway Manager(DRM) WR while he visited Kelwe exclusively to solve the transportation woes of the orchard growers.
Hrudaynath Mhatre, member, Divisional Railway Users Committee(DRUCC) said, "We had received several requests from farmers' co-operative societies in Kelwe, regarding the regular supply of fruits, vegetables and other perishable goods from Palghar to Delhi and North India, as the Kelwe growers supply around 3-4 tonne of betel leaves and other agro produce from Palghar to Delhi and North India on a regular basis. We cannot transport the same by road as it is a costly affair, as well as the perishable goods will be destroyed and so the Railways is the ideal mode."
"During the 2-year lock-down phase from 2020 to 2022, we used to book our agro products in the Jammu Tawi Parcel Special which had a halt at Palghar but that service is discontinued now and also the Ferozepur Janata Express," said Anil Patil, another grower. "Therefore the Railways must permit our goods to be transported in the Northbound trains such as 12903/04 Golden Temple Mail, 12907/08 Maharashtra Sampark Kranti, 12909/10 Garibrath Express and the 12925/26 Paschim Express as the above-mentioned train provides direct connectivity from Palghar to New Delhi, Amritsar and is a fast-moving daily service and will also be beneficial for other passengers travelling towards North India too," said Mhatre.
Furthermore, we had requested the DRM to extend the halt of Rajkot bound Saurashtra Express by a few minutes at Palghar so that the betel leaves, coconuts etc., could be loaded in the parcel van said Mhatre.
Around 250 acres of land is cultivated for betel leaves, coconuts, bitter gourd and other products in Kelwe-Mahim(not Mumbai) area.
WR speaks
The DRM GVL Satyakumar said, "We are speaking to the India Post department to transport the agro goods from Palghar just like we have done taking the help of the Postal department which helped to transport textile and yarn from Surat through the 19045/46 Tapti Ganga Express from Surat to Chappra and around 25 Tonne of the textile goods are offloaded at Varanasi for onward transportation every Wednesday and Sunday, and a similar formula will be applied said the official and within a fortnight a fruitful solution will be received he added."
