SCR for Telangana Development

Telangana inherits a rich legacy of Nizam railways. It inherits not just the rail lines connecting the parts of erstwhile Hyderabad state but the architectural marvels of in the form of railway stations built by the Nizams. We know in the past few decades the rulers of independent India and particularly that of Andhra Pradesh how the railways in Telangana have been neglected contributing its best to the under development of the region. SCR which stands for south central railway is often viewed in Telangana as South Coastal Railway. The opinion is no exaggeration when we see the operations, perspective and personnel of SCR. It is a known fact a large majority of personnel at the top, among Telugus, are not from Telangana, which has a miniscule representation.

The orientation of its policies has been to serve the interests and needs of coastal and Rayalaseema regions ignoring the genuine needs of Telangana. Let me give some examples here to substantiate my point. We keep reading in newspapers these days about the running of special trains between the key stations of Godavari districts to Hyderabad stating the demand from passengers. We also see the special arrangements made by the SCR during festivals time like Sankranthi and also during summer vacation for children. It also runs special trains for Brahmotsavs held at Tirupathi. It is good to hear that a public owned transport system is proactive to the needs of its patrons. But the problem is that such similar proactive attitude is not seen in the case of the needs of Telangana passengers. The classic case is that of the recent survey held by the government of Telangana. It witnessed the exodus of people, basically working class, poor, including women and children travelling on bus tops and in overcrowded trains. Literally there was not a single special train arranged to meet the needs of these people.

Over the years, SCR has become an agency catering to the needs of passengers from other than Telangana regions in the integrated Andhra Pradesh. Doubling and electrification of railway lines running in the coastal and Rayalaseema regions has been done at a faster pace while the lines in Telangana region are languishing in the same state as that of fifty years back. For example, the Secunderabad – Mudkhed line running via Nizamabad was converted to broad gauge only recently. Even today it is neither doubled not electrified. This route can be an important line as far as trade and movement of passengers and freight is concerned. This was envisioned by Nizam and thus he created the railway connection between the key parts of Maharashtra and Hyderabad. Of course the regions in Maharashtra were part of his rule, however, the line facilitated movement of people and goods. Once flourished, this railway line is crying for attention from the Ministry of Railways today.

Railways played an important role in the struggle for independence. However, when it came to the struggle for Telangana statehood SCR has always played a dubious role, behaving worse than the colonial masters. The important example is of sagara haram held during the peak of agitation for Telangana statehood, on which day the SCR cancelled the MMTS services also. Ironically, the same SCR ran its services when the bandh calls were given by the agitators. At whose behest it acted in such a manner, and whose interests it was representing are the questions that Telangana people have been asking for a long time.

It is often argued that because of the poor leadership from Telangana region that no improvement in Telangana railways took place. It may be true to a certain extent, however, it is also a fact that without proper support and forceful representation of facts from the officials of SCR the demands of the leadership could not have been considered by the Ministry of Railways in its budgetary allocations. The situation appears to be the same as long as there is no reorientation in the outlook of officials in the SCR towards Telangana. It is high time for SCR to come out with facts about its revenues from passengers and goods transport in its operational region. How much revenue it is earning from the transport of passengers and goods across three regions is to be made available to the public.

In the development process across societies railways played a significant role. The contributions of connectivity provided by railways have been immense. Whether it is mass awakening, or meeting commuters’ needs railways continue to help the poor. Thus the social responsibility of the railways in general and SCR in particular is high. In fact it is argued that because of greater connectivity provided by railways between North Coastal Andhra and Hyderabad or Anantapur and Hyderabad poor could come to Hyderabad and seize the opportunities. The same kind of access and opportunities has been denied to poor people from many Telangana districts. It is not just about employment, but transportation of vegetables, milk and essential agri-products could be enhanced by greater connectivity to Hyderabad. Ironically, transportation of vegetables appears to be easier from Bengaluru or Chittoor than from the adjoining districts of Medak or Nalgonda. If the transportation facilities for agricultural products are increased the marginal and small farmers could gain much. The geographic and climatic conditions of Telangana favour vegetable production as well rearing cattle. Motivation theories suggest that when opportunities are offered people tend to move out of traditional practices. Similarly in the case of vegetable cultivation and milk production if the state of Telangana provides better and cheap modes of transportation farmers in rural hinterlands of Telangana would shift from cultivation of non-remunerative cereal or cash crops to vegetable and milk production.

Coming to the case of Hyderabad region the SCR has to do a lot of introspection. This is with relation to the movement of people for employment across Hyderabad. The services of MMTS, started some time back, became a big hit with the working class and people working in the software industry in Cyberabad patronizing it.

However, over the years the services of MMTS became SMTS (single mode transport system) without adequate attention paid by the railway authorities to provide better connectivity between railway stations and key roadways. Asides, SCR also has done little to streamline its services. It never bothered to augment the services of MMTS. The time taken for travel between different stations by MMTS is same as it was six years ago. Rather it worsened with the frequent cancellation of services and stoppages for clearance to other trains. It should plan for dedicated tracks for MMTS and for increased number of trips between key stations.

The potential for MMTS is immense given the fact that it is less polluting and the cheapest mode of transport. It came as boon not only to the employees but also to the poor. Even in the event of operationalization of Hyderabad Metro MMTS would still be very relevant. If a fraction of amount spent on Metro could be spent on MMTS, both Phase-I and Phase-II, people of Hyderabad would be thankful to SCR. However the history of SCR suggests that the attitude of the officials of SCR has been biased against Hyderabad in general and Telangana in particular. In this context the government of Telangana should take the lead and either pressure the SCR to deliver the needed or think of reviving the rich railway legacy of Nizam.