Buried for 120 yrs, fraying paper puts Bhander’s railway dream back on track

BHOPAL: Written and published 120 years ago, it lay as a yellowing and forgotten scrap of paper, buried in the sands of time. However, the old document, dating back to the Gwalior Riyasat era, proposing a railway link between Jhansi and Bhind, is now driving a public campaign for a connectivity push at Bhander in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia district, one that locals believe could also open up new commercial opportunities.Mentioned in a 1905-06 railway gazette from the Gwalior Riyasat era and preserved in a 1996 reprint, the fraying document was found among the papers in possession of former minister and Congress MLA Keshari Chowdhary (80), who obtained the reprint while raising a question in the assembly in 1996.Chowdhary confirmed that the document clearly mentions a proposed Jhansi-Bhind railway line.