Seminar-cum-Workshop held during the TIAs’ Conference of South Eastern, South East Central and East Coast Railways at Puri on 4^th January, 2004…. A brief report by Shri S.K.Pattanayak,Dy. Fa & CAO (T),East Coast Railway

Extract of welcome address delivered by Sri Sanjoy Mookerjee, FA&CAO/ECoR/BBS.

“ …………There is no denying the fact that TIAs form the backbone of the inspectorial cadre in Railways and act as the conscience-keepers of Railway’s earning. As field supervisors they have been carrying out this onerous task with all their sincerity and devotion to duty. With increased importance in additional revenue generation and simultaneous emphasis in customer oriented outlook resulting in progressive computerization of commercial functions to station levels, the role of the TIA’s have assumed greater significance & challenge . Railway Administration has been quite aware of their sensitive role while acknowledging their efforts through awards and recognition at different levels including Railway Board. …………Today’s Seminar-cum-Workshop with a theme topic “Emerging trends in leakage of railway revenues – measures to counter” will generate a lot of interest among the participants and address areas of concern…………”

The TIAs Association of the composite (erstwhile) South Eastern Railway encompassing three new zones viz. South Eastern, South East Central and East Coast Railways took the lead in arranging the TIAs Conference in the temple city of Puri on 3^rd and 4^th January, 2004.To supplement their efforts to achieve all round professional excellence, the Traffic Accounts Department facilitated the conduct of one days Seminar-cum-workshop on 4^th January, 2004 at MAYFAIR Beach Resort, Puri.

The theme topic for the Seminar-cum-Workshop i.e.“ Emerging Trends in leakage of railway revenues-measures to counter” was chosen with an aim to educate and upgrade the knowledge and skills of TIAs linked to their professional activities.

Incidentally, it was a hattrick of efforts on the part of the TIAs Association of the erstwhile South Eastern Railway to organize such Conferences. Their maiden effort dating back to 4^th January 2002 to organize the first ever All India TIAs’ Conference at Visakhapatnam was a resounding success.

Amongst many invitees and guests, Sri S. R. Chowdhuri, GM/ECoR,SriM.R.Ramakishanan,COM/ECoR,Sri L. Sarangi,CCM/ECoR, Sri S. Mookerjee, FA&CAO/ECoR, Sri R. C. Sethi, FA&CAO/SECR, Smt. A.R. Venkateswar, FA&CAO/Con/ECoR,and SriD.K.Samantray, FA&CAO(WST)/EcoR and Sri B. N. Mohapatra, ED(PC),Railway Board made their valuable presence as Honb’le Guests on the dais during the Inaugural session of the Seminar-cum-Workshop.

In the absence of Smt Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan, FC/Railways, who could not make it due to postponement of her scheduled visit to the Head Quarter of East Coast Railway at Bhubaneswar, Sri S. R. Chowdhuri/GM/ECoR lighted the lamp amidst Vedic chants to formally inaugurate the event. It was followed by the welcome address of Sri Sanjoy Mookerjee, FA&CAO/ECoR who briefed the gathering about the significance of organizing the Seminar-cum-Workshop for the TIAs of the erstwhile SER. Thereafter Sri M.R.Ramakrishnan, COM/ECoR and Sri L.Sarangi,CCM/ECoR addressed the TIAs and touched upon the salient points concerning their professional excellence in the changing scenario of Indian Railways.

The keynote address was delivered by Sri S.R. Chowdhuri, GM/ECoR, who dealt upon the sensitive role of the TIAs interalia the other inspectorial staff both in Accounts & other departments, and advocated on the new strategies to be adopted by them in dealing with the regular checks of records and documents maintained in the stations and sidings.

During the Seminar proper, two papers were presented- the first by Sri Ravi Prabhat, FA&CAO(WST)/S.E. Railway on the theme topic of the seminar and the second by Sri R.C. Sethi, FA&CAO/SECR on“Ticket booking in Internet and ED auditing”. Both the speakers dealt at length on the key issues related to the subject topics with the aid of PPP(Power Point Presentations). The question-answer session after the presentation was made open to the House wherein the delegates and invitees freely discussed and deliberated on the relevant issues.

As four different groups completed the technical deliberation on the workshop topics the day before, the summary of discussion and deliberation was presented by the representative of each group during the workshop session. The topics were-

1. Importance of checks on collected tickets and disposal thereof.

2. Check of PRS and CSPTM tickets (NI, Special cancellation and refund) and modification of the existing JPO.

3. Reorientation training to the TIAs in the perspective of advancement of technology.

4. Role of TIA on checking of IRCTC transactions.

The afternoon session was fully devoted in an Inter-zonal quiz competition involving the new three new zones with the objective of testing the all round knowledge of TIAs on topics of professional as well as general intelligence in four rounds. Sri S. K. Pattanayak ,Dy.FA & CAO (Traffic) conducted the Quiz session in four rounds viz. General, Professional-I, Professional-II and Rapid fire round. At the end, it turned out to be a close contest for the three railways in which South Eastern Railway was adjudged as the winner by virtue of only one point lead over the nearest competitor i.e. South East Central Railway. FA&CAO’s challenge (rolling) trophy , instituted in the year 2003, was awarded to the winner group i.e. S.E. Railway by Sri S. Mookerjee, FA&CAO/ECoR/BBS.

The evening programme was quite relaxed but captivating. A cultural programme was organized in the open stage of the Beach resort amidst the natural scenic surrounding. The Dance programme was presented by three different groups of artistes , who performed creditably on classical dance items of ‘Gotipua’, Odissi & Kuchipudi besides the Sambalpuri folk dances.

If the feedback from the participants is to be taken on its face value, the Seminar-cum-Workshop was no doubt a roaring success in terms of participation and deliberation on a topic of professional interest.

N.B. Please watch out for the Summary of the discussion and deliberation of the Seminar-cum-Workshop that will be posted on this site within a month’s time.