Recurring Railway Rhetoric

The   rhetoric of the Railway Bureaucracy  (RB) would have become very  familiar to people who   follow  Railway Budgets. Since it is a mainly a  PR exercise    to create impressions and not really meant to be     executed within a time frame, it has become an interesting entertainment   Ministers may come and Ministers may go but the attitude of the  RB remains the same  forever . Hence we can expect the rhetoric this year too.

It might begin  with a paean of praise for the Prime Minister.  Then   a few sentences on what Railways have achieved with the help of ever sincere   public-service minded workers and the officials. Then something about the soul of the Railways which is claimed to be commitment to the   common man and its role in moving the economy. A few sentences on its nation integrating functions will follow.

They may even try to name this year. They may call it year of the Customer  or passenger year as they did in the nineties.  For them the passenger is not clearly the customer.

As usual, it will be declared safety is their priority .But you would never be told how many heads rolled when a train rammed into another train from behind, or when two trains caught fire or when several derailments had taken place during 2015-16  so far or in 2014-15 

  Debroy Committee  submitted  its report in June 2015. The RB  has kicked 22 earlier committee reports to their destined goal, the attics in Rail  Bhavan. Possibly, a committee will be appointed to study Debroy Committee Report and  analyse its implications. This is the usual route to the attic. Many of you must have  concluded  that this article is brimming with   prejudices  and so permit me to  quote  two passages.

This is from Shri.Sadananda Gowda’  Railway budget speech n 2014.

He  said  that out of 676 projects in  30 years, only 327  were completed. After spending the original estimate Rs.1,57,883 crores,  now RB needs Rs.1,82,000 crore to complete the rest.  Only one out of 99 Newlines sanctioned in the last ten years has been completed .

  Debroy, said in an article on Aug.4^th ,2015( ToI)   satirically ,” A new Railway Minister wants to show a healthy operating ratio? Not an issue, reduce contributions to Safety Fund  Depreciation Reserve fund  and PF. Consequences will be borne by posterity.  RB could do anything at will and on demand at  the cost of safety. “

The minister may proudly announce that operating ratio has come down.

The RB  is most inventive. If they want to hike the fare, they can think of one thousand ways of doing it without calling it fare hike.  If   any other Railways says  in the world, “if you want us to carry you from Point A to Point B in our trains, pay us this much; if you want us to  carry you safely, pay us more” it would be considered outrageous. But our Indian Railways did exactly that and got away   with their safety surcharge. Similarly, if any trader sells you   his goods for a price and collects as Develop0ment charge price +x   rupees ,  no one would pay and it would be a terrible unfair trade practice. But our Indian Railways have been collecting Development charges for years. It is quite   likely , this year they would come up with something  cleverer.   

Then we come to the desert.  I   am reminded of Tennyson’s lines,” They landed in an afternoon where it always seemed an afternoon.”(  Lotus eaters) That European afternoon was a very pleasant thing unlike ours. Similarly in Indian Railways, once they launch a pilot project, it always remained a pilot project. These are a few of my favourite   pilot projects,   safety devices like GPS guided signaling, train activated warning system, Anti-collision devices, and fool-proof signaling ,Advance warning systems,  Bio-toilets.  Dedicated Freight corridors, Dedicated passenger train corridors, Railway Safety Authority ,Rail tariff Authority and branded food in pantry cars, fire  extinguishers in every coach  will find a mention

. These are regular characters in the drama of Railway Budget.  RB will never tell you why they have not installed scoot and flash warning devices at every level crossing gate saving hundreds of crores in salaries. It is because that these appointments, manning the unmanned LCs are the play field of the politicians and union   leaders..

 Rat-eaten suit cases, unpunctual trains, unhygienic lavatories, unpushable flush knobs in the latrines, and waterless wash basins in the early mornings, unusable newspaper pouches in the chair cars, regularly recurring accidents ,, as usual will not find a mention. AS usual, the PM and ruling party will welcome the  budget, of course the opposition criticising it.

                                                            S.Pushpavanam

            consumerpc@rediffmail.com(785)

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