A week's holiday for Rly Ministry?

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI, DEC. 22. The Railway Ministry will virtually come to a standstill for a week beginning from tomorrow. Almost the entire brass of the Railway Ministry would be devoting its collective talent to stage a two-hour meeting of the Hindi Consultative Committee in Thiruvananthapuram on December 27. The meeting is being held at the insistence of a politician fond of water sports and the seashore.

As many as 960 railway officers, including the Railway Board Chairman, four of his colleagues on the Board, and all General Managers from the railway zones are packing their bags for Thiruvananthapuram in their individual saloons to attend on six MPs and 40 members of the Hindi Consultative Committee of which, ironically, only one is from the host State. Unable to get the air tickets, the Railway Board members left tonight by special saloons for Chennai where they will ostensibly hold a meeting before boarding the train for Kerala.

The Railway Minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, who had initially objected to this meet, and the two Ministers of State, Mr. O. Rajagopal and Mr. Digvijay Singh, will also be present. A special saloon is being attached to the Rajdhani Express to ferry officials connected with the Official Languages Department in the Railway Board.

The estimated expenditure will be over a couple of crores of rupees, in addition to hidden costs such as a fresh coat of paint to all stations on the Madgaon - Kerala route on the Konkan route. Reliable sources said a large number of Government guest houses across the State had been booked to accommodate the 1,000 or so railway officials.

The hidden agenda for the officials and members of the Hindi Consultative Committee are the high-spots of Kerala's eco- diversity, ranging from a round of leisurely boating in the famous backwaters from Kottayam to Alleppey to sun-bathing at the equally famed golden beach at Kovalam which is conveniently enough, next doors to the 120-minute meeting's venue.

Hectic arrangements are being made to meet the individual predilections of the six MPs and other committee members.

Reliable sources said voices were raised and tempers got frayed when Ms. Banerjee put her foot down and rejected the wasteful exercise. But she was persuaded to change her mind after the consequences of cancelling a politically correct event were pointed out to her. On the other hand, new line and doubling projects in Kerala have been overlooked by successive railway administrations and Ministers.

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