As the Karwar-bound diesel multiple unit (DMU) train leaves Ratnagiri station early in the morning, the villages along the tracks begin to come to life.On January 26, the coastal belt of Western India woke up to realise that what it thought was a dream was, in fact, the reality. The 760-km railway line now does not have any missing link. The Konkan Railways, a dream project of the entire Western India, was finally ready for the people.
As he watches the progress of the wheels of development in his native land, a 42-year-old passenger begins to carve out his own little dream in the explosion of development that is expected to hit Konkan.
Over 25 years ago, Tukaram Pawar had migrated to Mumbai with his father who abandoned his land to work in a textile mill and live in a room barely enough for the two to sleep.
Tukaram was in his early twenties when the labour upheaval swept across the mill areas of Central Mumbai. His father lost his job, turned alcoholic, contracted tuberculosis and died in the sameroom with Tukaram sleeping next to him.
Tukaram lived through odd jobs and continued to nurture a dream of getting a break in the construction industry. But the stakes were too high. And one day, tired of waiting for fortune to shine, he set out to reclaim his father's land which he knew was on the other side of the mountain that could be seen from the newly constructed Talvade railway station (between Ratnagiri and Rajapur road).
Clutching at a window in the worn out but modest second-class compartment, Tukaram talks about his inability to reclaim his father's land. The village Patil (head) has been telling him that his father had sold his land before setting out on the journey which never ended. But Tukaram was never told about it. He is not unduly nostalgic about the soil of his early childhood. But he intends to participate in the newly started gold rush in Konkan. The railway and the rapid industrialisation of the region are expected to throw up a large number of jobs and peripheral commercialactivity. (see box)
``Development is good for the people of Konkan who now will have an option to stay back and earn their living at home...but I am not interested in jobs,'' Tukaram says.
In the last five years, the land-holding pattern in the entire coastal belt from Alibaug to Sawantwadi has changed drastically. Shrimp farmers and resort developers have bought over big and small pieces of land.
A co-traveller, Pratap, from Vabhavwadi village confirms that some people have been frequenting his village and telling villagers that their land would be acquired by an industrial house of Mumbai. Land prices along the track have more than quadrupled in the last two years. Tukaram's story is a story of many Konkani people who are homeward bound on a railway line that has opened up new vistas for livelihood.
Suddenly darkness descends as the train enters one of the many tunnels. Silence grips the compartment, bringing with it a grim reminder of lives lost while digging the underbelly of themountains. About 65 engineers and labourers have laid down their lives digging tunnels and erecting bridges.
But the project rolled on, throwing up new opportunities and challenges for the people of Konkan, now waiting for the big bucks -- thousands of crores of expected investment.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
