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SAM CLUB DAY ‘16

A Page from the Service Diary (All India Railway Strike- 1974)

- G.K. Khare '55

It was the beginning of May at Mughal Sarai. The air was thick with the talk of impending strike to begin from the
th
8 of May, under the leadership of the Fireband socialist George Fernandes. I was then Sr. D.M.E. (Diesel),
Mughal Sarai, which curiously came under the jurisdic on of Lucknow Division of Northern Railways, while the
rest of the Railway establishments of Mughal Sarai were under the Eastern Railway.

The Government was determined not to submit to the pressure tac cs of the labour unions and the unions on
their part were equally adamant to go ahead with it.

In the run up to the strike, I would hold frequent parleys in the shed office with my AME Rajiv Chandra, AEE
Sampath, General Foreman C. L. Mehra and a seasoned Loco Inspector Sohan Singh to work out strategies for
mee ng the strike situa on. Meanwhile, workers and supervisors would huddle together in small groups in
corners, discussing possible ac on plans in hushed tones. Tension was palpable in the air. Arrangements were
afoot to mobilize the Territorial Army to blunt the strike ac on.

It was a common sight to see union leaders leading processions through the colony streets and shou ng
slogans, like “8 May ko kya hoga, rail ka chakka jam hoga” or “DME/Diesel kholo kaan, nahin toh hoga chakka
jam.” The atmosphere had become so surcharged that the echo of this was soon to be heard in my house too,
when my two younger children aged about 6 and 4 years with small s cks held alo , also started going around
the bungalow compound, chan ng “DME Diesel kholo kaan…………”!

There was to be some important family func on to be held at my in-laws' place, so just 3 or 4 days before the
strike was due to begin, I packed off my family to Allahabad. It also suited me to be free of family responsibili es
during those tension filled days.

MGS shed then housed 72 GM locos, and catered to a number of important mail-express trains besides bulk of
traffic goods to Patna-MGS-LKO-Saharanpur route. Of these the most pres gious was Punjab (Howrah-
Amritsar) Mail for which the loco needed to be turned out at shed bar line at 09:00 hrs sharp.

We, a small group of five people, had worked out a strategy to place the Punjab mail loco on the bar line at the
scheduled me on the first day of the strike, as a symbol of management's determina on to keep essen al
th
services going. As the 8 of May dawned, there was an eerie of silence in the Railway Colony and more so in the
shed. All staff, barring two senior foremen and one loco inspector and of course the officers stayed away.
However, as planned, we did bring the Punjab mail loco on the bar line as scheduled. It is a different ma er that
the train didn't show up, but our loco was ready.

As a counter move, the ring leaders of the strike were quick to muster up the support of their womenfolk, who
descended on shed premises in hordes and squa ed on the bar line and the adjoining yard, taun ng the
‘loyalists’ with bangles.

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