It’s a long road to school: Class 8 student writes to PM

Eleven-year-old Nayan Sinha’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised questions on railway officials.

Nayan Sinha, student of class 8 and a resident of Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, has written a touching letter to Modi about his daily struggle just to reach school. Owing to the absence of a railway crossing between his locality and his school, Chandrashekhar Azad Intermediate College, he and 200 others like him have to take a longer route every day.

Says the young lad, “I never cross the railway tracks as my parents have asked me not to. But the alternate route is much longer, so I reach school late and get punished most days,” he says, describing how he wrote to the prime minister in September last without telling anyone about it. “I wrote about how I have to walk extra to reach school.”

The letter prompted the PM to question the ministry of railways. In his reply, AK Sinha, senior divisional commercial manager (northern railways) explained that as per a new railway policy it was required for the state government to take permission from the concerned ministry before constructing an overbridge or a railway crossing.

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“I had forgotten about the letter,” says Nayan, talking of how two days ago his family received a letter from the divisional engineer, northern railways, mentioning his application sent to the prime minister. “But no railway official has visited us or sent any clear response to my request so far,” he says, a tad forlorn.

“The railway track is about 100 metres from our house,” says Ashutosh, Nayan’s father. “Ever since the track came up, Nayan has to walk over 2 kms to reach the manned railway crossing at Rajepur, and then to school. Around 200 children from our colony take the same route.” A railway crossing or overbridge would reduce the distance greatly, he says. “It will not just help schoolchildren, but also the sick and elderly.”