Kenjaru villagers bat for 'Pejawara Rly Station'

Residents of Kenjaru village, near Bajpe, in Malavooru Gram Panchayat (GP) jurisdiction are disappointed with the Union Budget for remaining silent on their long pending demand of renaming the railway station in Kenjar village as Pejawara Railway Station.

The railway station, called Jokatte Railway Station, comes under the limits of Palghat Division of Southern Railways and lies between Padil and Thokur on the Konkan railway route. When the construction of railway station begun in 2016, Prakash K Alva and villagers in the Pejawara ‘Magane’ (jurisdiction of Pejawar Mutt’s Moola Mutt) had submitted many memorandums to Union Railway ministers on naming the railway station as Pejawara railway station. Malavooru Gram Panchayat had also passed a resolution in 2017, Alva added.

On February 7, 2017, Pejawara Mutt seer Vishwesha Theertha Swami, who passed away recenlty, during his fifth Paryaya had written to then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu declaring his support to people demanding the naming of railway station as ‘Pejawara Railway station’.

The letter had pointed out that the railway station was located in the vicinity of ‘Moola Matha’ of Pejawara Mutt, one of the ‘Asta Mutts’ coming under ‘Madhwacharya Samsthana’ of Udupi. Alva said the railway station was being wrongly referred to as Jokatte railway station, though it does not come under Jokatte Gram Panchayat.

“It is more apt to declare the railway station as Pejawara Railway Station, as the moola (origin) Pejawara Mutt is located at a distance of one km from the railway station.

Malavooru GP President Ganesh Arji told DH that a memorandum was recently submitted to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, requesting him to write to the Centre on naming the railway station. Activist G K Bhat told DH that renaming the railway station as Pejawara railway station was to symbolise the feeling of proximity of local people with
Pejawara Moola Mutt and to commemorate the social services carried out by Pejawara seer Vishwesha Theertha Swami.

According to the sources in the railways, any orders on renaming the railway station should be issued by the Centre. Malavooru GP President Ganesh Arji told DH that the villagers would meet Union Minister of State, Ministry of Railways, Suresh Angadi and present a memorandum to him as well.