My Experiences of
Lahore and Pakistan Railway.
Chander Mohan Jindal, SrDFM/FZP/NR
In Punjab I always heard that "Jisna Lahore Nahi Dekha, Jamiya Hi
Nahi" Thus, I was keen to visit Lahore.
Indo-Pak Cricket Matches at Lahore-4th ODI and 2nd Test Match offered me
opportunity to get visa and see Lahore. My colleague Sh.Romesh Sharan Rai/Sr.DOM/Delhi
also accompanied me. I went to Pakistan Railway Headquarters and made a
courtesy call to Sh. Mohammad Ali,
FA&CAO. He gave me warm reception & introduced me to General Manager,
Addl. General Manager, Chief Auditor and Chief Internal Auditor.
We got accommodation in Railway Officers Rest House, Mayo Garden, Lahore. Mayo
Garden is 100 years old Railway Colony of Pakistan Railway Hdqrs. (formerly
NWR). Both families were invited to Dinner by FA&CAO, Division's
Supdt., CTO and DTO. We met many other officers and staff of Pakistan
Railway and they showed special courtesy to Indians.
During visit of Lahore Station, Offices of FA&CAO, DAO and DS, I came to
know something about Pakistan Railway. Some of the features of Pakistan Railway
are brought out in brief for information of IRAS members: -
1. Financial Position :-
Pakistan Railway is suffering losses of about 20% every year. The reason
given is that Roads have developed better than Railways. Pakistan has developed
motorways. Major traffic is going to road. At the time of partition, 80%
traffic went to Railway and 20% to road. Now. only 20% of traffic is with
Railway and 80% traffic goes to Road. In Indian Railways Goods Traffic is
about 67% whereas in Pakistan Railway, Goods traffic is only 40%.
2. Organization Structure:
Pakistan Railway has only one zone with Hdqrs. at Lahore and there are seven
divisions - Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Multan, Sukkur and Quetta.
Total staff strength of Pakistan Railway is less than one lakh. Pakistan
Railway headquarter is headed by General Manager, three Addl. General Managers-(Passenger,
Freight and Infrastructure respectively) and Heads of the Departments.
Railway Board's headquarter is at Islamabad. Besides Chairman, Member
Finance and General Manager is also Board's member. At present Chairman is from
Accounts Service for the first time.
3. Passenger Reservation:
Passenger Reservation is still manual. Computerization reservation has recently
started at Lahore and Karachi.
4. Computerization:
Computerization in the offices is at the initial stages. Major work is manual.
5. Passenger Fare's comparison:
Distance AC sleeper AC sitter Chair Car Sleeper
class Second class
a) 1263 Pakistan 2170 1150 440 250
India 1130 754 345 216
b) 336 Pakistan 730 400 130 90
India
611 297 136 85
c) 468 Pakistan 960 510 170 100
India 789 384 176 110
Fares are comparable. However, fare of AC classes is more in
Pakistan than in India. But, it is noted that Sleeper Class of AC and Economy
Class, Cabin is closed as in First Class/AC Ist in Indian Trains. Passengers
feel more secured when cabin is locked from inside. In lieu of curtains closed
doors for cabins can be provided by R.C.F. & I.C.F. without losing capacity
of berths.
6. Accounts Departments:
Pakistan Railway's accounts department also is working on same old codes of Accounts,
Finance and Engg. Etc. Promotion from Accounts Assistant to Section
Officers also is based on Appendix-III Exam. However, Section Officers are
called AAOs in Pakistan and they have been given gazetted status as in Indian Audit
Department.
In the Pakistan services of Railway Accounts, Defence Accounts, Civil Accounts
and Audit has been merged sometime back. I asked DAO whether it is better system
of merged accounts services, he replied that had Railway Accounts was kept
separate it would have been better. However, majority of the IRAS
officers
of the opinion that all accounts services should be merged.
7. Railway Budget:
Since 1924, separate Railway Budget is being presented to the Parliament.
However, a few years back, now there is no separate Railway Budget. Only one
general budget is being presented. Subsidies are being given through
general budget to meet the needs of Pakistan Railways.
8. Cadre Prospects:
Officers are being recruited through Civil Services and Civil Service Academy
for training is at Lahore. In Pakistan also, it takes about 20 years go get
SA Grade (20 BSP) - equal to Federal Joint Secretary. Unique feature is
that once you get Joint Secretary - all services seniority is common.
People can be freely posted in various departments. In Pakistan D.M/D.C. is
also of Joint Secretary Grade as Railways Division Supdt., FA&CAO and Chief
Engineer. In Indian set up Senior Scale or J.A. Grade, IAS Officer is able to
become D.M./D.C. In Pakistan Army Brigadier is equal to Joint Secretary and
Maj. General is equal to Addl. Secretary. Official vehicles of SA Grade
officers are Air Conditioned.
9. Official Vehicles:
Pakistan Railway is more liberal to sanction official vehicles for inspections.
Officers up to BSP 19 (J.A. Grade) are generally 800 C.C. Suzuki Van & Officers
above BSP 20 (S.A. grade) are given Air-conditioned cars like Suzuki Esteem
& Toyota Corolla.
10. Platform Ticket:
I went to Booking Office, Lahore to get Platform ticket but I was told to get
the ticket at the entrance of Platform. Ticket collector was available at
Entrance and issued Platform ticket of Rs.5/-. This system is better and people
cannot enter the station without ticket. Similar system can be started to
issue Platform Tickets by Ticket Collectors & plug the leakage of revenue
of platform tickets.
12. Lahore City:
Lahore is a big city of population over 50 lacs. Lahore is city of
Gardens - there are many gardens - Shalimar Bagh, Jinnha-E-Bagh and other. Shalimar
Bagh is typical Mughal Garden built by Shahenshah. A canal goes through 10 kms
of city - roads on both the sides are wide and well maintained. Another
important road is Mall Road which is also more than 10 kms long - both the
sides you have commercial complexes, important buildings like High Court. Assembly.
Punjab University campus. These both roads were developed during British
Raj. Anarkali Bazar is about 400 years old which was built by Jahangir. Anarkali
Bazar is well maintained which is about 2 kms long. At the end of
Anarkali Bazar, there is Food Plaza - on both sides there are
restaurants. Food Plaza is open up to 01.30 AM. Generally, in
Lahore shops remain open up to 11.00 PM. It appears Lahore never sleeps.
Punjab University, Lahore was the oldest University built by the British.
These days Lahore was the center of Culture and Education of North India.
Lahore is still considered the best city of Pakistan even though Karachi is
bigger than Lahore. Besides ordinary local buses, there are air-conditioned
local buses also. There are no such Air-conditioned local buses in any Indian
city.
13. People of Lahore:
Lahories give special hospitality to Indians. Everybody was keen to meet
Indians and even out of way to help Indians. Shopkeepers were ready to
give discount to Indians. Pakistan showed friendship to Indians. There
was no hostility against Indians in the cricket stadium and general life
interaction with Pakistan. I met some of Pakistanis who have close relatives
in India. I asked them whether there is any difficulty for Indian
Muslims, they told me that they are well settled and prosperous. They said the
only difficulty is that it is difficult to get visa to meet relatives to
India. People generally want peace with India. They said it is only
a political issue just
for Kashmir.
14. T.V. Channels:
All Indian T.V. Channels like Zee, Sony, Star Plus are being telecast except
News Channels. Indian serials and Indian Movies are very popular.
Pakistan Film Industry is not very popular. CDs /DVDs of Hindi movies and songs
are very popular.
15. Dramas:
Live shows of Dramas at 8 to 10 theatre are being played regularly. At Lahore,
Dramas are more popular than Pakistani movies. I had an opportunity to
see Punjabi Comedy Drama from 10.30 PM to 2.00 AM. Drama was quite enjoyable.
Chander Mohan Jindal,
Sr. D.F.M./Ferozepur