NEW DELHI: India’s main pole vaulter and present nationwide document holder, Dev Meena, and his teammates, together with interuniversity champion Kuldeep Yadav, have been left stranded for hours at Maharashtra’s Panvel station and missed their connection to Bhopal after railways officers informed them to pay a ‘penalty quantity’ for carrying their tools (pole vaults) contained in the coach, which the ticket examiners known as “metal pipes”.Go Past The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Poles are made out of light-weight fibres, primarily fibreglass and carbon fibre, and every pole weighs two kg with a dimension of 5mx5mx61cm.Their ordeal began quickly after they reached Panvel station following an in a single day journey from Mangaluru, venue for the All India Inter-College championships. Yadav received gold after clearing the horizontal bar with a leap of 5.10m, whereas Meena completed fourth after struggling a bout of fever a day earlier than his competitors spherical on Jan fifteenth. Meena’s private finest bounce of 5.40m set on the World College Video games in 2025 is the present Indian document in pole vault.
“Our workforce of seven athletes, together with junior women’ gamers, and our coach Ghanshyam Yadav had booked ourselves on two trains for our return journey, Mangaluru to Panvel after which to Bhopal. We have been carrying a complete of 10 new poles with us, every costing Rs 2 lakh. We reached Panvel at round 12 pm on Saturday (Jan 17) and had our onward practice to Bhopal scheduled at 3:50 pm,” Meena informed TOI.“After we have been sitting in a ready room, a senior Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) got here and requested us about our poles. We informed them that we’re worldwide athletes and have been coming back from a home competitors in Mangaluru. Later, one other TTE joined in, and each informed us to pay a penalty quantity (superb) of Rs 8,000 for carrying unbooked baggage (UBL),” added the champion vaulter.
Ballot
What do you concentrate on the railway’s choice to penalize the athletes?
“We reasoned with the TTEs, however they refused to pay attention. They stated the ten poles weigh round 80kgs, however they weighed 20kgs in all. We have been made to attend on the station for 4-5 hours and missed our scheduled practice,” he stated.Meena recalled that the TTEs known as up Railways Safety Pressure (RPF) personnel to maintain a watch and informed them that they shouldn’t be leaving with out paying the superb. “Our coach (Yadav) intervened and pleaded with folded arms to allow us to go, however they weren’t able to budge. Later, we paid Rs 1,865 as superb to the railways and acquired our tools launched from the RPF. We booked ourselves on one other practice to Bhopal which departed at 7 pm, leading to all of the workforce members paying more money,” Meena added.Later, the Divisional Railway Supervisor (DRM) workplace for the Mumbai division of the central railway (CR) issued an announcement, stating: “On 17/01/26, at PNVL station, pipes have been discovered with passengers. They’re greater than permitted dimensions, which might trigger inconvenience to fellow passengers if carried in passenger coaches. Passengers have been suggested to hold it within the SLR baggage compartment. They have been charged (Rs 1,865) below unbooked baggage. The passengers weren’t deboarded from any practice. They weren’t saved ready for 5-6 hours.”
