Bridge that kills: How Panju islanders defy death to reach Naigaon station

For over 3,000 residents of Panju, an island in Vasai creek, every walk to the railway station is laden with risks of severe injuries and death.

MUMBAI: When 25-year-old Sanjay Bhoir decided to take the Vasai creek railway bridge on September 27 to get to Naigaon railway station, he was well aware of the many dangers that awaited him.

The bridge has seven poles with buffer areas for railway workers to take shelter when trains pass by. Villagers rush to one of these when local trains approach, cover their heads with their hands, and face away from the tracks. (Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times)

The bridge had just enough space for two railway tracks and a narrow concreted strip along the edge, to facilitate track repair and maintenance work. Like other residents of Panju, an island in Vasai creek, Bhoir relied on this narrow strip to get to Naigaon station, the islanders’ gateway to other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Each journey along the tracks lasted at least 20 minutes, and pedestrians had to duck several times when local trains sped past – often in tandem, in opposite directions – with less than an arm’s length between them and the train. Then, many passengers flung flowers, coins and garbage from the trains into the creek, which could injure pedestrians on the bridge, at times fatally.

Idyllic village

At first glance, Panju looks like an idyllic village that sits on the northern fringes of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), between Bhayandar and Naigaon stations, surrounded on all sides by the Vasai creek. The island, spread across 300 acres, is home to more than 3,000 people who claim to be descendants of the palkhi bearers of Chimaji Appa, a Maratha commander who captured the nearby Vasai Fort from the Portuguese in the 18th century.

The island has two temples, a crematorium, a liquor shop, and a handful of grocery stores. Nearly all houses are single storeyed, while the primary health centre that awaits inauguration is the only ground-plus-two storey structure. Many families have two-wheelers which are mostly used within the island. In the evenings, children play in lanes and neighbours chat outside their homes as the tide rises and falls silently all around.

“The island was self-sufficient until about 20 years ago as people earned from salt pans and sand mining,” said Vilas Bhoir, former village headman of Panju. “Today, those industries are gone and nearly 60% of Panju’s young men and women venture outside every day, to work in Vasai, Bhayander, Bhiwandi and Mumbai.”

Most of them work in factories, malls, and offices across the MMR, earning roughly ₹20,000-30,000, said Vilas Bhoir, also a former journalist. “They cannot afford the ferry ride twice a day. So they rely on the bridge to get to the nearest railway station, Naigaon.”

Fatal walk

The idyllic setting of Panju is ruptured every morning and evening, when a line of villagers is seen walking along the narrow bridge, jostling for space with speeding locals and trying to escape a hit from garbage flung by train passengers. There are men in formal shirts, clutching office bags, women balancing groceries on their heads, children trailing with satchels, at times bigger than them in size.

“Over time, villagers have devised their own code of survival,” said Vilas Bhoir.

The bridge has seven poles with buffer areas for railway workers to take shelter when trains pass by. Villagers rush to one of these when local trains approach, take shelter behind the pole, cover their heads with their hands, and face away from the tracks.

“Still, there is no protection as objects flung out of trains coming from the opposite direction, which could hit them. That is how Sanjay was killed,” said Raviraj Bhoir, who works in a garment factory in Bhiwandi and visits home only on weekends.

Manisha Ravkhane, senior police inspector of Vasai Government Railway Police (GRP), said there were at least six incidents during the past couple of years when Panju residents were severely injured due to objects flung from trains.

Among the victims was Hemlata Mhatre, who works in a factory. In 2023, when she was walking along the bridge, a one-rupee coin flung by a passenger sliced through her jawline.

“It was just a coin,” she said, feeling the faint scar on her cheek. “But for me, it meant months of stitches and a liquid diet.”

Then, there was Shakuntala Vaman, who was hit on the right side of her face by a photo frame flung by a train passenger. Her right ear had to be amputated after the incident, and she lived with an ear for five years, till she died in 2024, said residents.

Inspector Ravkhane said the GRP are well-aware of the plight of Panju residents.

“We have written to the authorities several times to construct an approach road for the villagers and to the railways to start awareness programs instructing commuters to not throw things in the creek from running trains,” said Ravkhane.

In 2016, Panju was shortlisted under a ₹90-crore island tourism plan. Later, a ₹1,600-crore MMRDA road, part of the Coastal Road project, was proposed, connecting Bhayander to Vasai via Panju. Both those projects were shelved, leaving the islanders in the lurch, said residents.