CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu pole vaulters, returning from a national event in Odisha, suffered the humiliation of their poles being dropped from the train by Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, who cut off the ropes that secured the equipment to the windows outside the compartment.The poles, each costing 1 lakh, fell on the tracks and the athletes had to pull the chain to stop the train and retrieve them. This comes just a week after both the men’s and women’s national marks were bettered at the Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault Competition in Bhubaneswar.Earlier this year, current national-record holder in pole vault Kuldeep Kumar and the then holder, Dev Meena were deboarded at Panvel in Maharashtra by the ticket examiner, detained and fined for carrying poles in the train that they were travelling.This latest incident occured when a group of Tamil Nadu athletes, including three pole vaulters and two heptathletes, travelling with waitlist tickets, were returning to Salem from Bhubaneswar.Among them were Kavinraja, 20, who won gold in U-20 category on Saturday, Sakthi Mahendran, a railway employee, and R Vishal. They boarded the Shalimar Express (train no. 22642) around 6am on Monday, carrying eight poles.Following a complaint from a passenger, an RPF official at the Rajahmundry station cut the rope with a knife and the poles fell on the tracks. With the train in motion, one athlete pulled the chain to ensure that the poles were not destroyed.Sakthi, 22, a commercial cum ticket clerk (CCTC) in the Salem division, said the poles were not causing any disturbance to the passengers, and that he did not have any other option but to tie the poles to the window.He said the athletes took all safety precautions and made sure that it did not trouble the passengers.Railways officials behaved harshly with vaulters The athletes have to compete in the Indian Open Series meet in Chennai in a week’s time and could not afford to reach late. “We usually tie the poles above the fans, but since the sleeper coach was overcrowded and the halt in Bhubaneswar was only for five minutes, we did not have enough time. We tied them to the windows outside instead. At Rajahmundry, I went to the AC coach to check if seats were available. It was around that time the incident occurred, and I asked one of the junior athletes to pull the emergency chain. Each pole costs Rs 1 lakh, and it is very difficult to buy new ones on time,” Sakthi told TOI on Tuesday, on his return to Chennai with Kavinraja and Vishal, via the Coromandel Express.“The officials questioned me and behaved rudely. Once I showed them my Railway ID card and asked a few of my Railway colleagues to speak to them, they calmed down and eventually let us go after we gave a written statement at around 10:30 pm. When they asked us to deboard in Rajahmundry, we insisted that we would get down with our luggage, but they just would not listen, and our train departed shortly.“We had to leave our luggage behind, with two athletes staying back in the train. There was also a communication gap due to the language barrier. Even as a Railway employee, it took me long enough to resolve the issue. Had I not been working in the Railways, I believe it would have taken even longer,” said Sakthi.“Having faced such difficulties earlier, I am going to write a letter to senior Railway officials seeking support. Incidents like these affect our confidence and impact us adversely. Imagine if the poles had been damaged,” added Sakthi, who came back after a two-year injury layoff.
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The athlete training in Salem had finished with 4.50m on Sunday,
