Incredible Journey of a Debit=

Just like the partition of the country= and formation of two new nations, the formation of the new zonal Railways also threw up many human problems in its wake, the attendant separation and dislocation being the most important.

Friends and families got separated, so= me people got dislocated. Though the employees were given the facility of opti= on, many exercised it as they really had no option; Just like the saying that in today’s fast world even to remain at the same place one has to keep r= unning, to remain in one’s own Rly/place of posti= ng he had to opt! Sons and daughters born to a particular parent Rly and brought up there were now in different Rlys= . For some, the place of posting was in one Rly, and = the home town in some other Rly. =

Add to this, the endless problems of seniority, lien, merger of cadres etc. Unusual and unanticipated situations cropped up, for taking care of many of which rules either did not exist a= t all or the existing ones proved inadequate. This called for a sensitive administration rather than a mechanical stickler for the extant rules. In m= ost of the cases, it did rise to the occasion, acting with alacrity. Considerat= ions of natural justice, fair play and humaneness were incorporated into the decision making process. It was realized that rules are just a handmaiden to justice, not the perpetual masters. Accordingly, wherever necessary, the ru= les were appropriately rewritten.

But the accounts were not so lucky, the separation thereof being a daunting task. The parents had to bequeath their ancestral and acqu= ired properties to their offspring by way of TWFA. Other liabilities and assets = as reflected by the ledger balances were also to be transferred in the name of successors. Considering the magnitude and the nature of the transactions involved, there were bound to be some difficulties and faux pas.=

Needless to say, all the assets of new= Rlys were physically available in the territorial jurisdiction of the new Rlys themselves. Howeve= r, a look at the accounts of some Rlys would make on= e to draw certain inferences: DR Fund was like a type of ‘= akshay khani’ from which money could be drawn th= ough nothing was available in it. Some assets committed suicide as they must have been so bored with their own existence. Yet another set of assets started exhibiting bi-location - a supernatural ability to be present at two places= at the same time. The converse of the theory to the effect that the whole is greater than the sum of parts was also proved; the total value of the assets held by the units was more than the value of zonal assets! Some assets simp= ly depreciated even without being in existence. While some Railways grew very generous and made payment to vendors for supplying nothing, some others defaulted.

Of course, the beautiful systems we ha= ve and the industrious people working them have been able to sort out most of the problems. Hopefully, the remaining will be sorted out soon. However, it see= ms that had these lesser beings - the ledger balances - too = been given the option to go to the places of their choice without human interven= tion, they would have all gone to the right places and all accounts would have be= en settled much faster, without any fuss.

The story of the voyage of a debit (mi= nus credit) through the troubled waters of re-organisation= of zonal Railways is a telling example of issues yet to be settled.

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As any one would agree, a disputed deb= it or credit is like a soul yet to attain ‘moksha’ by landing at its right abode. But for the people dealing with such a debit= /credit, it is a ghost which is to be exorcised from their bodi= es.They try all the customary rituals of reconciliation meeting etc., and, if need = be, even resort to the black magic of raising “forced debits”.=

An unsuspecting contractor, little con= scious of the reorganization, submitted his application for the refund of EMD to <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Ajmer division furnishing only the money receipt number. As no credit was availab= le and the contractor was persistently pressing for the refund, the division d= ecided to be proactive; they raised a minus credit against their HQ (NWR). The HQ, unable to find any credit in this regard, rejected the minus credit. The division asked the contractor for more details, who gave the valuable information that he had remitted the money at Kota division, which was now in WCR. Th= erefore, furnishing this information, <= span class=3DSpellE>Ajmer division again raised a minus credit against the HQ, which, in turn, passed on the same to NCR, whi= ch they initially objected to. However, through the intercession of the presid= ing deity, this was ‘forced’ on them. Now, though WCR agreed to acc= ept the same, their scrutiny revealed that the EMD was remitted before the reorganization and hence, the credit must be lying with WR in which Rly both Kota and Ajmer divisions fell before reorganization.

Therefore, they exorcised the ghost ba= ck to NWR. NWR-HQ instructed Ajmer division to raise the = minus credit against W.Rly in the following month. Ajmer division, now very conscious of the re-organisation that had taken place during the intervening period, did not want to take any chance this time. They realized not only that credit should come from WR-HQ but also that it was th= e Ahmedabad division which should take action in the ma= tter as the subdivision in which the work was to be carried out now fell in that= new division which was formed along with the new zonal Rly= s! Now providence brought the minus c= redit within striking distance of ‘moksha’= ;, in as much as Ahmedabad division was also in the s= ame Rly (WR) with which the credit was supposed to lie. B= ut alas! Ahmedabad division had a different line of thinking: Any credit (pre-partition) should come from the respective parent division (Ajmer division). Accordingly, the minus credit now started its journey from Ahmedabad and via Mumbai (WR-HQ), Jaipur (NWR- HQ), Ajmer, again Jaipur reached Mumbai (WR–HQ)! But = by this time, WR- HQ had erroneously transferred the credit to NCR on their own .Therefore, realizing their mistake, WR advised NWR that they would reverse this transaction and pass on the credit to it in the following month. Finally,the credit did com= e to Ahmedabad division but through ‘the proper channel’ ie Mumbai = ® Jaipur ® Ajmer ® Jaipur® Mumbai® Ahmedabad and the EMD was refunded.=

(The names of the divisions and Rlys are not real)<= /span>

It is not for no reas= on it is believed that the path to heaven is narrow and hazardous.

There could be other debits /credits orphaned by re-organisation. Let us pray for th= eir early ‘moksha’.

- = Shaju Francis, AFA/SWR

shajuaf@rediffmail.com