Railways during Emergency: Trains on time, but veterans also recall long working hours
Amidst several bitter memories of 21 months of
Emergency in India
50 years ago, veteran railway employees recall mixed experiences during the period -- the praise received for trains running on time and the difficulty of long working hours with no avenues for grievance redressal.
Veteran trade union leader
Shiv Gopal Mishra
said that senior officers were held responsible for the delay in train services, and that's why there was a huge focus on punctuality.
"I remember an incident when some lower-level railway employees were suspended for lack of water in (the then Railway minister) Kamlapati Tripathi's saloon attached to the Kashi Vishwanath Express train. He used to perform puja in his private coach while travelling to Kashi, and during one of those days, water couldn't be pumped up, resulting in a lack of water in his coach," Mishra, who worked as a junior engineer at Lucknow station in 1977, said.
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He added, "The rail administration suspended some lower-level workers for dereliction of duties. However, when the minister came to know about it, he immediately ordered the revocation of the suspension."
According to Mishra, in those days, instead of penalising lower-level officers, action was taken against senior officials for late running of trains, due to which it was ensured with more alacrity that all trains stick to their assigned time of arrival and departure.
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Mishra, presently the general secretary of
All India Railwaymen's Federation
, said, "Besides my official position in Railways, I was a branch assistant secretary of the workers' union too."
Cleanliness was also ensured, another retired railway employee, not willing to be quoted, said, adding that senior officers were asked to remain in the field for eight hours to keep a watch on the trains' working, stations and surrounding areas.
"They ensured cleanliness because they knew they would be the first in the firing line. There were nine railway zones at that time, which have now been increased to 17. Also, trains were not as crowded as they are today," he said.
"There was no corruption, so far as I remember, in the railways as officers were aware of severe action. Workers and senior officers were treated equally on the working hours front," he said.
Mishra also felt that corruption was at its lowest point in railways among senior officials during the Emergency days.
Retired loco pilot P Vijaykumar, who used to drive passenger trains in 1977, said that there were no fixed working hours for drivers and often they used to pilot trains for more than 14 to 16 hours and sometimes even 24 hours.
"We were not able to negotiate with the government, hold meetings or do anything to raise the workers' demand," Vijaykumar said, adding that before Emergency, there was an agreement with the government to give a 10-hour shift to loco pilots.
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